The Lyoko Warriors
by Pinkie Dash Pony
Summary: 7 years have passed since the Lyoko Warriors destroyed XANA, & Jeremie Belpois returns to Kadic. He is determined to perfect the world of Lyoko. He soon discovers that something is not right & is forced to unbury memories he has been trying hard to forget
1. The Sequel Series Idea Update

Though I have only known about Code Lyoko since September 2010, I have realized that concerning it my life will never be the same. It has awoken in me a strange desire like no TV show I have ever seen before, including Avatar: The Last Airbender and Fullmetal Alchemist. I would be willing to dedicate the rest of my life to making Code Lyoko awesome, I decided. It is now March, and ideas are still forming in my head.

I am currently attending college for a degree in Video Production. My utmost hope is to be able to start making cartoon series by around 2020. When my dream of making cartoons does come true, I am very sure that I want to continue the story of Code Lyoko (picking up where the original story ended, regardless of whether or not anybody else has made their own sequel by then.) I have a great many ideas up my sleeves, and a great deal of ingenious twists awaiting the screen.

Right now, the reason for my writing this is to see what anybody else thinks. Is there anybody else out there who is interested in seeing a new Code Lyoko series? It will be a bit darker and more serious, but will still have the same characters that everybody loves, albeit many years older. The focus, I believe, will be more for people around the ages of 16-18, though I hope younger and older people will be able to enjoy it. At the moment, I just want to know if my idea would have an audience, so if the idea strikes your fancy, please leave a simple review and say so. If I have my way, the story of Lyoko is far from over.

Also, if I get enough reviews, I will give my current idea as to how the beginning of the sequel series would start. Since I cannot submit a good video, I will simply set it down as though part of a novel. Mind that it will only be the current, unedited idea and not the fineproofed version that will hopefully someday be on TV, but I hope it will be of a least a little worth and interest.

The Lyoko Warriors, as I would call the sequel series, would aim to target an older audience, somewhat like the audience for one of my other favorite shows, FullMetal Alchemist. The bloodshed in Lyoko Warriors would be significantly less extreme and there would not be any swearing. Nevertheless, the tone and depth of the storyline, along with the acting and script, would be of the same style as FullMetal Alchemist.

You would expect to cry and fear at moments, to become more and more drawn into the web that grows ever tighter around our small group of heroes. Xana would be back, but there would be a new menace to be feared as well. Also, to twist the story, Xana will have a little secret. That's all I will say. Perhaps someday the story will go onto TV. I can only hope and pray…

I have quite recently decided to up the feedback from this idea by creating a page on Facebook. I would like all fans of this story to join me there. The support of my fans means a lot to me, and so I would really like for you to join me there. Talk about the good and bad of this story, and tell me what you would like to see happen. Tell me what questions you would like to hear answered. Or just join to show me your support. That would be much appreciated. Without my fanbase, this would be impossible, so please enlist to the group and show me your support. Thanks!

Fansite - www(dot)Facebook(dot)com/pages/Lyoko-Warriors/174736052549361


	2. Epi 1, Chpt 1: A Mysterious Stranger

Hello, and in case you're confused, there will be a new chapter posted today as well. However, I rewrote the first chapter of the story turning it from one page into three and adding some very critical things to it. Therefore, before reading the first chapter of Episode 3, I want you to read the updated version of this chapter, because Episode 3 Chapter 1 builds in major ways off of this updated version. 

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 

**Episode 1: The Return** (No more than 3x)

**Chapter #1: The Mysterious Stranger **(+1,032 words)

A figure, tall, muscular, dark, stood silent in the shadows staring out at the land around him in an odd, distracted fashion. This was a regular pastime for him these days, being lost in thought. It had been that way for many a year now, as if he were searching for something that he had lost. However, he also knew that he belonged at Kadic. As he stared out into the distance, he crossed his hands in contemplation, a frown of deep through creasing his brow.

The rain that fell on his shoulders meant nothing to him. It was just one of the external distractions to be put away. The thunder and lightning simply added to the mood that he had been feeling for a long time now. It intensified the experience, and thus tonight was a night of deep reflection.

The wind pushed his red jumpsuit hard against his body, his hair blowing back on his forehead. The headband around his head was soaked, as was the band-aid that he never removed from his cheek. It had been there the day that he got hired at the school, and it had never left his cheek once.

"How long has it been?" he asked himself. Twenty-five years. Twenty-five long, peaceful, happy years. At first he'd had his doubts, but he'd come to the point where he could no longer regret what he had done. He'd given up his days of seeing the world for a steady and peaceful lifestyle. He'd given up a life of reckless adventure and danger, to settle down and teach at a high school. Looking back over his years as a teacher, he had no regrets. Peace was an acceptable way to live your life. There was nothing wrong with an ordinary life.

Now, though, he felt restless, discontent. He knew it was connected to the group that he had met some seven years ago now. It was strange. He'd taught a lot of students, and was used to the coming and going. It was simply a part of his life. However, he'd never been able to get those kids out of his head. One of his most painful moments was the day they left Kadic Academy. It was as if, when they did, they each took a small part of him with them. They were now a firm and permanent part of him.

That was strange, illogical. It didn't make sense. For the first three years that they were together, they hadn't gotten along well at all. They were plotting against him, hiding something. He'd attempted many times to find out what it was, but each attempt had ended in near-disaster. Eventually, he'd stopped trying, and eventually he'd come to be friends with one, but only one. That wasn't special, though. He'd never really become too good of friends with him, and he'd made plenty of those kinds of friends throughout his time at Kadic.

_What was it about those six kids that makes them a permanent part of you?_ Jim asked himself with a frown. _It's been two years…_Six, the word had come into his mindbefore he could stop it. In his mind he replayed that horrible moment over and over again. So young…so full of life…nobody should ever die at that age. It just wasn't fair. There was so much that they'd never be able to experience.

Another flash of lighting drove Jim's mind back to the latest tragedy that he had experienced. It had been almost a year since it occured, but the entire day still played itself out in his head perfectly. It was the day he gained an odd friend and lost a person who was very close to his heart...

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"You call that running!" Jim cried, shaking his fist encouragingly. In front of him ran Kadic Academy's 7th grade students, at such a slow pace that it was hard for Jim to believe. _This is ridiculous, _he thought. "Don't any of you know how to move fast!" he cried out in frustration. "This is supposed to be a sprint!"

"Uh…sir," a young voice said, interrupting Jim's thoughts and causing him to turn around.

Staring up at him was a young girl who couldn't have been much older than ten. She had large blue eyes and beautiful raven black hair. Her face was completely smooth and her smile showed perfectly white teeth. She wore a white t-shirt with the word "Liberty" written under a picture of the beautiful statue of liberty. Her pants were an pair of pink jeans. Around her neck she wore a medallion with a bizarre symbol on it. Two circles, one in side of the other. On the outside of the second three rectangles branched out. Somehow, Jim got the impression he'd seen it before somewhere. The crowning beauty of this little girl though, was the gemstone hairpin that held up her hair.

Jim blinked in surprise for a second, taking it all in, before asking, "Uh…What are you doing here?"

"Was I not supposed to show up because I was late?" the girl asked, confused.

"Not to show up?" Jim asked in confusion. "No way. You're Willow Arkansas? The American exchange student?"

"Yes, sir," Willow said bowing. "That's me."

Jim frowned and scratched his chin. "Well, then, by all means, go ahead."_ I need to check with Susanna on this…_ He thought to himself with a frown. Then he turned and headed towards the science lab. As he did, he glanced behind and saw Willow running, and as he entered the building, he could see her in front of the entire class.

As he opened the door to the science lab, a scream of pain suddenly split through the night. Instantly all eyes turned in the direction of the science lab, and the kids ran as fast as they could towards the sound. Somehow, once again, Willow managed to outdistance them quickly. Jim, the moment he'd heard sound, recognized it as that of his closest companion Susanna Hertz, and frantically rushed into the building.

As he glanced around he observed that the entire building was empty. With a frown, he raced into Susanna's class and found her lying on the ground, grasping her heart. Her eyes were wide and filled with pain and anguish. Her grey hair lay over a part of her body, and there was a frightening beauty to the scene. One thing was horrifyingly clear, though, Susanna was dead.

Jim's eyes filled with tears, and he dropped down next to the dead woman. Reaching out his hand, he brushed the hair out of her face. He carefully leaned forward and kissed her. Then he broke, burying his face in her hair, he wept. That's where he was when Willow arrived.

Jim, broken, despairing, miserable stayed with her body for the next several days. Due to the fact that she had no family, he'd taken the responsibilities entirely upon himself. In the end, her body had been buried at the church where the two of them had first met. During all of this, Willow never once left his side. She was his anchor in the storm, and the experiences they shared during that time bound them with a deeper bond than Jim had ever before imagined possible. Jim had made it his business to visit Susanna's grave every day, and Willow almost always went with him. Sadly, a couple of weeks later, she returned to America, leaving Jim feeling utterly and completely alone.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A loud crash of thunder threw Jim back to the present, and his eyes widened in surprise. In the distance, covered in shadows and darkness, he thought he saw a figure. _No way,_ Jim thought to himself with a frown. _Who would be out in this whether, Jim? Get ahold of yourself!_ Then, he saw the figure again. Not much more could be seen than that the person was clutching his coat hard against his body, and a hood covered his face. He looked, strangely, like some kind of person from a spy or action movie. _What could a person like that want at Kadic Academy?_ Jim thought with a frown. There was no doubt that the person was coming in his direction.

"I don't believe this," Jim muttered to himself, watching as the man grew closer. Kadic Academy was an average boarding school that children from sixth to twelfth grade attended. Sure it was known to produce geniuses, but why would that bring a person like this? Kadic was old, but there was absolutely nothing interesting about it. Why anybody such as this approaching man would have any interest in it was completely beyond Jim's imagination.

As the man approached him, Jim became more and more nervous. He wanted to run but found his feet frozen to the floor. He began to shake, fear flowing through him. The man came to a stop next to Jim, who observed that he was above the average height, though it was hard to tell the way the man was hunched over, and slightly strong.

"I wish to talk to Principal Delmas," the man said, looking Jim in the face. Jim could clearly see the man's blue eyes, and a small patch of blond hair peeking out beneath the top of the hood. The shadows obscured the rest of his features. "Where is he?"

"I…I…In his office," Jim replied, a little shaken, but pointing the man in the right direction. "Down that way…Why?..." But the man was already off, making his way through the wind and rain towards the principal's office. "Bizarre," Jim muttered to himself, turning back towards the distance. To his credit, he waited a full fifteen seconds before rushing off after the mysterious man. In some way, he felt, that man was very familiar.

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––– 

Alright, hold with me for a couple hours or so, and don't worry. I will have the next chapter out today. As promised, I will try to get the next one out A.S.A.P as well. So, what do you think of Willow? Is she good or evil? Is it just an odd coincidence that Mrs. Hertz died right after she showed up? And what is with that medallion? Share with me some of your guesses.


	3. Epi 1, Chpt 2: Jeremie Belpois

Here is the second part of the beginning.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Chapter #2: Jeremie Belpois**

Breathing hard from the speed at which he was running, Jim arrived at the familiar office. Leaning in, he peered through the door at the two people talking within. Principal Delmas was a wise, nicely-dressed man. His outfit, a brown jacket and brown pants, with a vest underneath. Underneath that, a dress shirt and tie. His hair, the little that was left of it on top of his head, was grey. A pair of small, dignified glasses rested on his nose. The mysterious man had removed his hood, and the man's look was so familiar that it was hurting Jim's head as he raked it for any memories of this handsome, strong man.

Who is he? Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the man shook hands with Principal Delmas, opened the door and walked out of the room. He looked at Jim with a smile, and nodded his head. "Good to see you again, Jimbo. Sorry about earlier, but I had to get that off of my back."

Jimbo! The word bounced through Jim's head, rattling his already hurting brain. "Do I know you?" he asked in confusion. "You do seem familiar somehow…"

"Jim," Principal Delmas said, setting his hand on the gym teacher's shoulder. "Surely you remember Jeremie Belpois."

" Belpois!" Jim cried, his mouth dropping open in shock. "But…he looks nothing like Belpois!"

This man was strong, even muscular; Jeremie had been somewhat scrawny. This man's face was smooth, straight; Jeremie's had been wider. Jeremie's hair…well, it was a completely different style. Jeremie had worn glasses; this man didn't seem to need them. Jeremie had never gone anywhere without a laptop or pad of paper, in other words, a nerd. This man seemed more likely to be the kind of person who would be a secret agent. The biggest difference, however, was in the eyes.

Jeremie's eyes had looked like he wanted to challenge the world, that he was alive and active, that nothing could slow him down, that he was invincible. This man's looked, not defeated…simply, he had accepted his lot. It was obvious that his old fire, his old determination to change the world, was gone.

"I am Jeremie," he said simply.

"Jeremie here has come to request a job. He wished to replace the late Mrs. Hertz as Kadic Academy's science teacher," Principal Delmas explained.

"Replace!" Jim exclaimed in shock. Turning to Jeremie, he said, "You've come here for a job! But…But…you're the brightest student to every graduate from Kadic! You were going to change the world, to 'turn this world around', as you would always say. What are you doing back here?"

Jeremie lowered his head and muttered, "I'd rather not talk about it."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

I apologize for the shortness. There is more to the beginning, but I stopped where I did because it seemed like a good spot to do so. I am trying to be careful about how much of the beginning I put onto the web. Perhaps I will do one or two more. I will do it again once the reviews get to fifty. (I do believe that two more members will make their appearance in the next part.)


	4. Epi 1, Chpt 3: A Midnight Visit

**Chapter #3: A Midnight Visit**

"Jim?" a voice called, dragging Jim out of his light sleep. As he stood up, he considered the fact that he hadn't been able to sleep well for the last three years, ever since the group's departure. He shook his head. For some reason, he couldn't think of Stern, Ishyama, Belpois, Della Robia, and Stones apart. However, he knew that their friendship hadn't lasted more than two-and-a-half years. In fact, he could have sworn they hated each other before they'd graduated. Hmm…

"Jim, are you awake?" the voice…whose was it… Then realization dawned on Jim, and he quickly took a glace at his clock. 3:00a.m.

"Belpois, what is it?" Jim asked, pushing the door open, and instinctively looked down. He found himself staring at Jeremie's feet. "Forgot," he muttered to himself. "He's not shorter than me anymore."

"Jeremie, please," Jeremie replied with a smile, which looked completely out of place on his concerned yet serious face.

"Ok, Jeremie," Jim said, rolling the word over on his tongue. "But I would like to be called Jim, not Jimbo. I don't like that name anymore." Then he shook his head to clear out of sleep. "C'mon, Jeremie! Why did you wake me up in the middle of the night? I would've been glad to speak to you in the morning between classes!"

"You're the only person still at Kadic," Jeremie whispered quietly, "the only one still here, besides Principal Delmas, who was at the school when I was in eighth grade. Do you remember?"

"How could I forget?" Jim replied with a chuckle. "I always thought that you had some dangerous secret. I thought that you were spies or something…Ha Ha!" He laughed at the mere suggestion. "Is that why you're still awake?" He asked, a sparkle in his eyes.

Jeremie looked at him strangely. Perhaps he was mistaken, but this was the first time that he had ever seen such a look in his gym teacher's eye. "I completely understand," Jim continued. "I could never get those days out of my head. Come in." Then he motioned for the door.

"No," Jeremie replied, placing his hand on it. "Jim, I wish to enlighten you about something that is going to alter the course of your life. Have you ever felt inclined to suppose that a part of your life is missing…?"

"You took it away!" Jim nearly exploded. Then he frowned. "How would you do that?"

"Umm… What are you talking about?" Jeremie asked, his eyebrow raised. "I took what away?"

"When you five left…" Jim paused as Jeremie winced at the mention, even at the thought of being 'one of the five'. "Sorry," Jim apologized. "After the graduation, I felt that a part of me was missing. I have never noticed it when you were around, but after you left, a large part of me went with you."

"Interesting…" Jeremie whispered under his breath. "It must have something to do with the false start. Perhaps…"

_ There was this giant computer in a huge room like a factory you know and then both you and I were on this bridge fighting against some factory worker who was doing these wild acrobatics. I've been having that same dream for a long time. _

Sure they were the words of William, at the time of the Xana Jeremie clone, but still… Jim had been even closer to them during the false start. If William had somehow retained part of the adventure, it made sense that Jim would as well. Still, how they could possibly retain knowledge of something that didn't happen made no sense to him. It reminded just how little he understood about the supercomputer. Which brought him back to the subject at hand.

"Jim, I wish to enlighten you about something that is going to alter the course of your life," Jeremie repeated. "If you wish to learn about your missing memories, you'll have to come with me…" He turned and began to walk down the hall. Quickly, Jim dashed after him. Jeremie suddenly stopped and turned back towards Jim. "If you do that, there will be no turning back, ever."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ok, I know that I said I'd have another member from Code Lyoko, but this part is a bit larger than I had originally imagined. So I don't know when the next character will make his appearance. *sigh* My idea is already going out of control. Well, I really want to write the next part, so I will do it as soon as I have 55 reviews. That's only four more!


	5. Epi 1, Chpt 4: The Woods

**Chapter #4: The Woods**

Jim paused for a moment, hesitating. Then he said, "I have to know what has been haunting me for three years. Besides, what you show me can't be too much worse than the things I've already seen." Though he didn't say it, he was referring to all of the things that he "would rather not talk about", as he always said.

"You haven't seen anything like this," Jeremie replied certainly, before motioning for Jim to follow him. Walking sure and certain, Jeremie went down the stairs and out into the woods. He hadn't made the trip in six long years, and yet who knew the path through the woods better than any other place he had ever been.

Jim, on the other hand, was constantly glancing around as the trees, his mind telling him that he should remember this path…but it had been so long since he'd last been here. At long last, Jeremie came to a stop and held up his hand. "There." He pointed with his finger to a sewage entrance, "that's the entrance."

Stepping forward, his eyes wide, Jim knelt down and stared at the entrance. It was so overgrown with grass and weeds that it was almost invisible, despite the fact that Jim knew exactly where it was. Jeremie leaned down and literally tore the lid off the entrance, lifting the weeds and grass, roots and all, right out of the ground. Below, stretching out into the darkness, were old, rusty handles that looked like they hadn't been used in years.

As Jeremie stared down at them, tears welled into his eyes, the first time that Jim had ever seen him show any such emotion. "Such a long time ago…" he whispered to himself slowly. "And yet to this day is dictates my destiny. On second thought, I don't suggest you get involved Jim." As he said this, he looked up at his former gym teacher. "There is still time for you to turn back. You shouldn't have to be trapped…like I am."

"What are you talking about, Jeremie?" Jim asked, eyeing him and the tunnel into the darkness. "It's only the sewer."

"You really should go back, Jim" Jeremie said quietly. "I…I should bear this burden alone."

Jim's face darkened. "That is something I can't do, Jeremie. If you have a burden, share it. That always makes it easier…It's why to came to me in the first place, right?"

"Yes, but…" Jeremie began.

"Enough arguing," Jim declared. "Enlighten me."

With a sigh, Jeremie nodded. "Ok then. I hope I don't come to regret this…" He trailed off, his mind on that day long ago when he had first stepped across the line, when he had set in stone his destiny, the day he had turned on the supercomputer. Ironically, his final words before doing so were… "I hope I'm not gonna' to regret this in a minute." He regretted it alright. What had it done but made him miserable, alone, and trapped forever on this campus.

"Follow me," Jeremie said, before grabbing onto the first of the handles and beginning his climb down into the darkness. Jim followed right behind him.

"What you will see once we arrive is a secret that you must never tell anybody," Jeremie said, looking up at Jim. "This is something that you would rather not talk about, understand?"

"Understood," Jim said, and then they reached the bottom. "Is this where you would always go when you said you were sick?" he asked, glancing around at the darkness. "I still don't understand what is special about a sewer…Are there any lights? I can't see an inch in front of my face."

"I'll have to put some in," Jeremie replied. "There were some when I was younger. Keep close to me and take my hand. Then nothing will happen…" He trailed off, and Jim frowned nervously.

"Is everything ok?" he asked, glancing around at the darkness.

"Yes…" came Jeremie's voice, sounding strangely as though it was coming from beneath Jim, and it was filled with overwhelming sorrow. What Jim couldn't see was that Jeremie was kneeling on the ground, his hands on the skateboards and scooters that were still there, old, rusty and abandoned. _"Our friendship is directly linked to the supercomputer. I'm afraid that if we shut it, it will also shut our friendship down." "Hold on! I understand what you're feeling, but you're wrong. Our friendship is too strong to shut down."_

"You were wrong," Jeremie whispered to himself, ", and it was my fault." Then he righted himself and said to Jim, "Let's move." Taking Jim's hand, he led him into the darkness, as they walked, they made countless turns, one after another after another. Jim found himself completely lost in the darkness, but Jeremie always acted without hesitation. Jim knew the man knew where he was going.

"Stop," Jeremie ordered, and Jim did just that. Moving Jim's hand inside of his, Jeremie set it on another set of old, rusty handles. These ones led upwards. Taking them without hesitation, Jim scrambled upwards. Though he would never admit it to anybody, he hated not being able to see. It reminded him too much of his time in the Mammoth Cave, when…no, he'd rather not think about it. To his relief, Jim felt a lid above him and pushed it off, then he scrambled out, and a shiver ran down his spine. In front of him was an old, abandoned factory.

"I know this place…" Jim whispered quietly, approaching it slowly. "It's been in my dreams for years. I never realized that it actually existed."

"All of our…" Jeremie winced as though he had been punched. _What am I doing here?_ He asked himself, miserable. _Without the others, it will never be the same…_But at the same time, he couldn't turn around or go back. This factory would always dictate his life, and even without his former friends, he had to be here. There was no getting around that fact. The only thing that truly mattered to him was this factory's secret.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

This part of the story is taking much longer than I had expected it to. I apologize again for not introducing any new characters, but hopefully they will come into the story soon. I know when they will appear, but I do not know how long it will take for me to reach that spot. Please just bear with me until then.

I will publish the next piece when it says 60 reviews. That means I only need five more.


	6. Epi 1, Chpt 5: The Factory

Before anything goes any farther into misunderstanding, I feel I have to remind you of the reason for this story posting thing. It is to find out how many fans I will have if I ever get to release my series. As of so far, I have discovered, thankfully, that I would have quite a few and even a few almost devout watchers. So I feel that I shall deliver a double-helping today, releasing two chapters at the same time!

However, I also feel that I must point out something that I'm afraid you may have forgotten. This is the beginning of my idea for the series; it is not the entire series. I will only be releasing the first two or three episodes, so don't expect an entire story. I hope, however, that you will see what I will show you as pretty darn awesome! Without further ado, the next chapter of my Lyoko Warriors cartoon show idea.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Chapter #5: The Factory**

Tightening his face, and forcing the tears that wished to come out back, Jeremiah turned towards the factory. Long ago, he had forced himself to stop crying over what had once been, and would never be again. He lied to himself, telling himself that the big hole in his heart didn't exist, that he was fine without the others. "Jim," he said quietly. "My secret is inside."

Nodding his head, Jim followed Jeremie across the long bridge that stretched from the sewer hole to the factory. As he walked, the eerie feeling got stronger and stronger, and the shivers that ran down Jim's back got worse and worse. There was something…_evil_ about this place. He was sure of it. Lodged into the back of his head, unwilling to come forward, something was screaming this information at him.

"Those don't look safe anymore," Jeremie said, and Jim looked up to see what he was talking about. A couple of ragged, worn, perhaps even rotted pieces of rope hung from the balcony they were on to the ground below. With a smile, Jim walked over to the edge of the balcony and slid off, grabbing the bottom of the balcony with his hand, then he dropped! Eyes wide, Jeremie watched in apprehension as Jim fell towards the ground below. At the last moment, however, Jim did a roll and came to his feet.

"No problem!" he called up to Jeremie.

"I can't do that!" Jeremie called down. "That was crazy."

"Belpois!" Jim called up in the voice that he used to use as the gym teacher. "You most certainly can do that. I taught you it years ago." Swallowing, Jeremie stepped off of the balcony, and grabbed onto the edge part, just as Jim had done.

"There is no way that Ulrich would ever do this," Jeremie thought to himself, before quickly cursing himself for the thought. They were dead to him. He wanted nothing more to do with any of them. _Aelita_…The name came unbidden to his mind, the one name that he had never allowed himself to think, not since…since…since the graduation. Instantly, Jeremie lost his concentration, and thus his grip. With a cry, he fell towards the ground.

"Belpois!," Jim cried, rushing frantically towards his falling friend. As Jeremie neared the ground, Jim gave a cry and threw himself underneath, expecting all of the force of Jeremie's fall to land on top of him. Instead, he felt nothing.

"You missed," Jeremie said, and Jim quickly looked up. Jeremie stood beside him, dusting himself off. "The roll worked." Jim's mouth dropped open.

"Never do that to me again!" Jim said, his eyes wide.

"Nope," Jeremie said with certainty. "I'll have to get some new ropes." Shootoing a glance of Jim, he added, "and some stronger ones."

"What happened up there, Belpois?" Jim asked, eyeing the spot where Jeremie had been hanging. "You looked perfect…and then suddenly, you weren't perfect."

"I'd rather not talk about it," Jeremie said, "and call me Jeremie, please."

"Oh, right," Jim said quickly. Then he said, "I take it all of your trips here haven't been like this…"

"By 'like this', do you mean nearly plunging to my death, walking in pitch black through the sewer, or waking up at three in the morning?" Jeremie asked. "Nope. I've never had to deal with any of those before…but I have most definitely had worse things happen…" He whispered the last part so that Jim couldn't hear him. A part of his mind was warning him that all was not well in the factory. What could possibly be a miss, however, Jeremie couldn't even fathom. _Just nerves,_ he told himself certainly. _Xana's dead. Yumi and Ulrich saw him die._ The words, however, did nothing to quell the unease that filled him. He should turn back. He shouldn't be here. He should leave the supercomputer to rot. Perhaps it already had. _Go back!_ He told himself. _Go back!_

"I can't," he whispered so quietly that not even Jim could hear him. From now until the end, he was a part of Kadic Academy. There was no turning around. Then he turned to Jim and said, "Over there." Where he pointed, Jim could see a rickety old elevator that had to be at least forty years old. It was obvious that nobody had used in over five years.

"Where does that go?" Jim asked, approaching it. The strange feeling of evil was growing ever stronger as he got closer to the elevator. Suddenly, he paused and glanced around in confusion. A picture of a lawn chair and comic books came into his mind…Odd. What could it that possibly mean?

"It goes down to ou…_**my…**_"Jeremie spat the word out angrily. Why could he not get those cursed fools out of his head? It had been several years since he'd last thought of them, but since he'd arrived at Kadic, they'd been on his mind almost constantly! He told himself he hated them, that he spat upon their memories, but it wasn't true. He told himself that to hold back the pain, the pain that had been showing forth several times that night. He told himself that in order to forget the truth, in order to the day when they had turned from each other and a part of him had died.

"It goes down to my secret," Jeremie said, turning back to Jim with a serious look in his eyes. "It will take us to the place where my life was changed, and where yours will be changed forever." Then he hit a button next to the elevator doors, and they opened. "Come on, Jim. It's time for you to discover the truth."


	7. Epi 1, Chpt 6: Memories

**Chapter #6: Memories**

Frowning, shaking his head to clear it of the comic books and the lawn chair, Jim entered the elevator. He glanced around at the dusty interior and the rust that coated it. "Are you sure this is safe?" Jim asked warily.

"Are you joking?" Jeremie replied. "I don't even know if it is going to move." Then he hit one of the buttons on the elevator and the doors closed shut, sealing them in. For the first time, Jim began to feel a little nervous. "And so it begins anew," Jeremie said, hitting another button on the elevator. Nothing happened. He pressed it again. Still nothing. Jeremie breathed in, keeping himself calm. He placed his finger one last time on the button and held it. "Come on!" Jeremie whispered. "Please work."

A shiver ran down his spine, and he winced. For a second he felt certain that he had felt a presence, dark and menacing, something that he hadn't felt for seven long years. Then, just as quickly as he felt it, it was gone, and the creak of the elevator beginning to move could be heard. _No, _Jeremie told himself, _you just imagined it. Xana's dead._ However, he couldn't quell the nervousness that was running through him.

"Did you feel that?" Jeremie asked, turning to Jim.

"Feel what?" Jim asked, clueless, quickly glancing around. "What is there to feel in here?"

"Never mind," Jeremie said, relieved. It was just his nerves acting up again, after all. It was just another haunt from his past. With a sigh, he asked himself if he would ever be free of them. _No._ He resolved in his head. _I won't. I don't want to forget…but I don't want to remember either…_ The slow deterioration of the friendship, and the action that had shattered the fragile bonds that still held them together. The already unstable bonds that he, Jeremie Belpois, had broken. It had been, he knew, the worst decision in his entire life, and even his invention couldn't make things right. Ironic that that was the reason he had created it for in the first place, to fix any unfavorable consequences of the stupid mistakes he would someday make.

Jim was silent as they went down, thousands of fears rushing through his head, nightmares that had been haunting him for almost a decade, and they were pushing themselves forward in his mind, demanding attention. William Dunbar's disappearance and then instant appearance, the bizarre moment when the group had called him Jimbo after he tried to expose them to the principal, the weird boar that had seemed set upon killing him and Jeremie. The kiss that never happened and yet that he had experienced, all of the weird bizarrities that had happened while Jeremie and the others hung together and that had instantly stopped when the group fell apart.

Coincidence, he'd told himself. Mere coincidence. He'd always been too suspicious in his younger days, but at the age of fifty he prided himself that he had finally come to the point where he could tell the difference between the truth and tricks of his brain. He'd told himself for years that he had simply imagined everything, but the oddities had always lingered in his dreams. Now, now it suddenly seemed like everything that had been unquestionable was being changed. The truth about Jeremie Belpois was something that he needed to know, despite what the cost may be. He had become the sort of man who needed to know the truth, and that was exactly what he was finally getting.

After what seemed like hours, the elevator finally came to a stop, and the elevator doors creaked open.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Actually, I will say one other thing. I enjoy writing this story so much that if it ever becomes certain that I will never be able to legally make another series, I will release everything onto . The next chapter of episode 1 will be released at 65 reviews.


	8. Epi 1, Chpt 7: And So It Begins

**Chapter #7: And So It Begins**

The room that the two of them stared into was completely empty. Sure, the walls were cool, blue and with many interesting looking cracks, but there was still nothing in the room. "Um," Jim said staring at it. For the first time that night, he found himself wondering if Jeremie was insane. "There's nothing here, Jeremie," Jim said, turning to his companion. "This room is empty."

"Not quite," Jeremie said, pointing to a little circle in the middle of the room. Jim eyed it, curious. All that was there was a circle with floorboards missing around it. The interesting thing was that these seeable areas were filled with wires.

"What are those for?" Jim asked, walking towards them. To him, it still looked like an empty room, but he was quite curious to see what Jeremie saw in these wires. What could be so important about them that it brought Jeremie back from college to the place he attended as a teenager?

"This," Jeremie said, walking over to the circle and kneeling down on top of it. He pointed at the ground, and Jim leaned in close, still not sure what was so fascinating about it. Then his eyes widened. There were three small cracks in the floor, nigh unnoticeable. Jeremie reached out towards the cracks with both his hands.

_You shouldn't be doing this. Did you truly not learn from what happened last time? _The question was stronger than any memories that might have come to his head at this moment, and the words were all that he could see. His parents had always told him that mistakes were there to learn from and that if you failed to do so, then you lost the benefits of making the mistake in the first place. Here he was, doing the exact same thing that had caused his life to be ruined, and this time, Jim would be the one becoming trapped by Jeremie's inquisitiveness and disregard for what he ought to do.

"Jeremie?" Jim said with a frown. That was all it took for Jeremie to make up his mind. It needed to be there, right next to where it where Jim was standing. Jeremie's mind was made up. Whether he liked it or not, he couldn't turn back. He knew that without this secret, he would rather not even be alive. This place was his home now. This factory was the only place that he ever wanted to be. Then he placed his hands onto the cracks, pushing down ever so slightly. Then he quickly stepped back.

The little cracks slowly spread apart as something amazing and immense rose out of the hole. Jim stared forward in utter amazement at what stood before him. He wasn't sure what in the world it was, because it looked like nothing he had ever seen before. It was golden and black, and shaped like a small tower on top of a giant, wide circular cylinder. Wires and such ran all over it, and the way in which the colors were on the device resulted in many very odd symbols. A cord ran from one side of it into a wall.

What drew Jim's attention, next, was a little symbol, one filled circle inside of another circle which was inside of another circle. Slight rectangles stuck out from the bottom and top, and two rectangles stuck out of the bottom in horizontal angles. X.A.N.A.! Jim stumbled back as the force of the memories rushed into his head.

_"What's wrong? Up to no good again aren't you?... I've had enough of your lies, you hear? We're going to stay right here until you guys tell me the truth…" Jim had said, blocking the path from Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi._

_ "This time your paranoia has caused an accident…I'm going to have to let you go." Principal Delmas had said, as the two of them stood outside of the hospital room where Jeremie had ended up after falling down the stairs while being pursued by Jim._

_ "Jeremie, listen. I want to say I'm sorry. I was so sure that you guys were up to something that I guess I got carried away a little. I deserve to get fired. I went a little crazy 'cause I thought you and your friends had a lot of secrets that you were hiding. Anyway, I'm gonna miss you guys…" Jim had apologized while talking to Jeremie in the hospital bed._

_ "My friends and I, we do have a secret. If you help me, I'll tell the principal everything. You'll be off the hook, and he'll be bound to give you your job back, right?" Jeremie had told him, while lying in that bed._

_ As they rode down the elevator…_

_ "And this super powerful virtual thing called XANA wants to destroy us. Only Aelita can deactivate the towers, and our job is to help her as much as we can._

_ "And she's on this place called Loko?"_

_ "No, it's Lyoko."_

_ "The only way to destroy XANA is to unplug him, but first we have to materialize Aelita, and that's what we're gonna do today…"_

_ When Yumi and Odd had first arrived and seen Jim. "Don't worry he's one of the gang now."_

_ "She's here at last. Welcome to earth." Jeremie talking about Aelita Stones._

_ Later, Jim was sleeping, in the factory, comics books were surrounding him, and he was waiting…_

_ "How would you like to watch us deactivate X.A.N.A.?" Odd had asked._

_ "I wouldn't miss that for the world." Jim replied. "I honestly never imagined that I would miss being your P.E. teacher so much. From now on, call me Jimbo, huh."_

_ "Here we are…" The giant machine rose out of the ground. "X.A.N.A. you gave us a lot of grief, but thanks to you we met Aelita. So goodbye and good riddance."_

_ Jeremie pulled the lever to shut down the giant generator, and Aelita fell to the ground. They quickly switched the machine back on and got Aelita over to a hospital. "You passed out, and that's not normal," Jim remarked as she came to, and had commented on how good it had felt._

_ "Don't tell me you actually understand all of that?"_

_ "It's not very complicated."_

_ "It looks like X.A.N.A infected me with a virus," Aelita had commented._

_ Then the monsters, the battle, the near-death experience, and then…he stopped the kids again as they left the room. A time travel trip!_

Jim held his hand to his head and turned to Jeremie, his eyes wide. "I remember, Jeremie," he said slowly, his eyes filled with fear. "I remember everything. Please show me the supercomputer."

Jeremie nodded and said, "Very well, Jim. Follow me. Oh, and there isn't any reason to be afraid. X.A.N.A. is dead. The five of us saw to that…The last thing that we ever did together…" As Jeremie trailed off, he felt that old fear, telling him not to do what he was about to do, the same fear that had prevented him, a thousand times over, from doing it during the last seven years. Setting his face in a determined frown, however, Jeremie walked forward and pushed open the little block that had X.A.N.A.'s picture depicted on it. Inside was a lever, and hesitating for the last time, Jeremie leaned down and pushed the lever, forever sealing his destiny. Nothing would ever be the same again.


	9. Epi 2, Chpt 1: Musaya Hiyim

**3 YEARS LATER**

**Episode 2: The Lyoko Warriors**

**Chapter #1: Musaya Hiyim**

The sounds of gunfire and falling soldiers filled the battlefield. Standing in the midst of it was a man by the name of Musaya Hiyim. No part of the man could be seen, as completely covered as he was in his black, ninja-like outfit. In his hands, he held two devices. They were sharp and deadly, made entirely out of shimmering silver metal. They were the preferred weapon of the modern ninja, and were the only weapons Musaya ever used. They were all he needed.

"Fall back!" Musaya called, and his group slid backwards into the trees that lined the borders around them. The group in front of them, giving cries of triumph raced forwards, and though nobody could see it, Musaya smiled. Everything was going according to plan. It was one of his most brilliant strategies yet.

As they backed up, the army found itself trapped, their path blocked by a wide and jagged river filled with horrible rapids. There was no possibility of crossing it alive. Nodding towards his men, Musaya stepped forward, his hands raised. The soldiers around him lowered their weapons.

"Do you surrender?" The enemy general demanded.

"General Dakota," Musaya said slowly, "I should have known. Nobody else could be so insanely stupid and have such brass." The enemy soldiers pointed their weapons directly at him, and Musaya swallowed. "If I do surrender, what will happen to me and my men?"

"They will be imprisoned. You shall be executed as an example for all to follow. Rebellion is not permitted in Japan," General Dakota replied with a sneer. "If you do not surrender, all of you will die. Look around you, there is nowhere to go."

"Exactly," Musaya replied, motioning towards the trees. General Dakota frowned, and glanced towards the trees. Thousands of soldiers rested in them, armed with the latest advancements in machine gun technology. "If you do not do as I command right now. Not one member of your army will be left. I've won this round."

General Dakota frowned. "What exactly is it that you wish, Musaya?"

"Not much," Musaya replied, "just to overthrow the dictator and set up a democracy. You have seen by now that you cannot stop me, why do you insist on fighting anyway?"

"You will fall, Musaya. Someday, you will make a mistake, and I will be there to see it," General Dakota replied.

"Oh, I highly doubt that. Here are my instructions. Go to the dictator. Tell him that he has until next Monday to resign and appoint me in charge. If he does not, let him know that both his and your life will be ended that very day. That is all."

General Dakota glared at Musaya and said, "I don't know who you think you are, but…"

"I think that I am Musaya Hiyim, the only person in the world who is capable of handling the two of you. I think that I am the liberator of Japan and that nothing in the world will be able to stop me."

"You're nothing but a child," General Dakota said, eyeing the mysterious man. "I can tell it just by looking at you, regardless of how well you try to hide it. You're twenty-five at the most. I've had far, far more experience than you. Don't go sticking your head out too far too quickly. You'll just end up having it chopped off. Come men; let's get out of here." Then the army, heads held high and erect turned and marched out of the area. Musaya simply stared after them; his eyes not even attempting to hide the joy he was feeling at that moment.

"Come men," he said, turning to his men. "Back to camp." In response, the thousands of men swarmed down from the trees. Then the large group marched back to their camp. It was amazing, the entire group had to admit, that Musaya could hide such a large army and make it undetectable, even with all of the amazing tools of the day. However, in comparison with his other incredible actions, it didn't even rank in the top ten.

It wasn't until they were all in their camp that the army tossed aside their weapons, and Musaya removed his hood. If General Dakota had been their, he would have been absolutely astonished, and insulted beyond belief. However, every single one of the rebellion forces knew of their leader's identity. The short hair and sharp chin were familiar and when placed with the eyes, it was unmistakably that of a feminine. Musaya Hiyim was a woman, and just like General Dakota had supposed, didn't appear to be over twenty-five years old.

"Impressive Musaya," a man said, walking up to her. He was tall and muscular, with a strong chin and eyes that shown forth wisdom and recklessness. His hair was a dirty blond and his eyes were brown. The outfit he wore looked like something out of the movie Robin Hood. He was the only soldier from the trees who had not thrown away his gun. "I can't believe they actually fell for that trick!"

"I told you, Nathaniel," Musaya said with a smile, pushing her hair out of her eyes. "Dakota is a fool. After seeing your gun, he didn't bother too look close enough at the other guns to discover the truth. Even if he had, they were too far away for him to see that those guns were merely cheap imitations. It was actually very simple."

"Brilliant, as I said," Nathaniel said, setting his hand onto Musaya's shoulder. "I am worried, though, my dear. How are you going to pull off this final battle? What can you possibly do to put a sudden and complete end to their resistance?"

"You'll see," Musaya said, leaning over and kissing him. "You'll see. And then, once our fighting is finally over…"

"I'll make you my wife," Nathaniel finished with a smile, "and the world will be ours. We will live happily ever after."

"Yes," Musaya said, sighing in absolute contentment at the life that lay before her. "Happily ever after."


	10. Epi 2, Chpt 2: Improvements

Here is chapter 2 of Lyoko Warriors: Episode 2. I'm not as proud of it as I am of most of my chapters, but the next one should be pretty cool. The mysterious Musaya Hiyim, that I like. Very soon, some old characters will make an appearance. Only one or two chapters away. We shall see.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Chapter #2: Improvements**

Musaya Hiyim was not a name known only to Japan. Everybody who was anybody had heard of her, although they all believed that she was a man. Almost everybody had an opinion of the mastermind helming the Japanese revolt. Some thought him audacious; others thought him reckless. Some called him mad; others called him a genius. Some hated him, despised him, cursed his name. Others, a small few, considered him to be perfection, somebody every man worth anything should desire to be like. Jeremie Belpois was one of those few.

"Jeremie!" Jim's voice called, drawing Jeremie's attention away from the laptop on his desk which he had been using. "He's on again!" 'He', that was all that Jeremie needed to hear before leaping up from his chair, closing his laptop, and dashing out to the lounge where the teachers hung out.

The TV was blaring, and the familiar voice came onto the screen. "Dakota is a fool. After seeing your gun, he didn't bother too look close enough at the other guns to discover the truth. Even if he had, they were too far away for him to see that those guns were merely cheap imitations. It was actually very simple." As this was said, the picture of General Dakota looking into the trees was shown.

Jeremie sighed, disappointed. "It looks like we missed him again," he said with a resigned frown. "It always seems like he strikes while we are working! What I would give to see one of the battles live!"

Jim nodded his head. He agreed of course. He and Jeremie had been watching the broadcasts for four years now, ever since Musaya Hiyim's rise to leadership. _No_, Jim corrected himself, _rise isn't the right word. He was just suddenly…there._ "I don't understand something," Jim asked, turning to Jeremie. "Why exactly does Musaya Hiyim broadcast all of his victories live, and then explain afterwards what he did? Isn't that a little bit dangerous?"

"I can't help you there," Jeremie replied with a frown. "When it comes to things like Math, History, Art, Computers, Science or anything like that, I'm your man. However, I do not even pretend to presume to know why he does some of the things that he does. It's beyond me."

There was silence for a minute as the two of them considered the awesomeness that was Musaya Hiyim. Then, at long last, Jim spoke. "So, how are you coming with Lyoko?"

"Amazing," Jeremie said, beaming. A look, almost like the kind he used to wear when he was a child crossed his face. "I just finished adding the fifth sense. Now Lyoko has all of them!"

"And you are content with this?" Jim asked, still not certain. "I mean, what good is all of this alteration if nobody lives there, and nobody will ever go there?"

"Things live there," Jeremie replied. "I have countless different species thriving on it, ecosystems that will never be seen by the eyes of any other man, ecosystems that will never be disturbed by them. Do you realize what an opportunity that is? I get to see how an ecosystem would react when not at all affected by us. The things that I learn will give us an understanding of nature that we never dreamed we'd be able to obtain."

"Right…" Jim said, not at all sure he believed Jeremie. "Is that why you built those sheds?"

Jeremie frowned in response. The sheds that Jim was referring to were things that he had programmed onto Lyoko, three to each sector. They contained several of the bikes that Ulrich used to use, several of the weird vehicles that had once belonged to Yumi, and several of the hoverboards that Odd had loved. "A tribute," he said quietly, "to the other Lyoko Warriors."

"I thought that you hated them," Jim replied. For the last several years, Jeremie had been speaking of the Lyoko Warriors group. Nearly every time, it was with hatred. However, once and a while, he would speak kindly of them, and show his true feelings. He still cared deeply about them, though he was determined to make it seem as though he did not. That, above all else, truly bewildered Jim.

"I do," Jeremie replied, his voice hardening.

"No," Jim said, shaking his head. "No you don't. Tell me, Jeremie. Why do you pretend that you can't stand the people that you obviously care about deeply?"

For a long moment, there was silence. Then Jeremie muttered, "I'd rather not talk about it," turned, and walked away.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

So we have Jeremie, meddling with things on Lyoko, attempting to complete the job that Franz Hopper was never able to do (as is says in the Code Lyoko Episode 57: Aelita.) Jim is trying to understand Jeremie. Musaya Hiyim is about to embark on the most dangerous part of her entire career as Japan's liberator.

Also, off topic but I was considering writing a biography on the life of Xana, from his beginning until the day that Jeremie unleashed the program that killed him. Just wondering if anybody would have an interest in reading something like that. Wouldn't start it until I was done with this story, though…


	11. Epi 2, Chpt 3: FairyTales & HappyEndings

**Chapter #3: Fairy Tales and Happy Endings**

In Musaya's camp, everything was jubilation. Streamers & decorations were being hung everywhere, adorning the tents and trees. Hundreds of lights of various colors were being placed above them in the canopy. The ground was covered up by a green tarp, upon which were set many picnic tables and chairs.

"…and to think it's almost over," one of the soldiers whispered with a smile to another working beside him.

"Yeah," the second replied in what sounded like an awed, yet regretful, voice. "Imagine."

"What ever could you be concerned about?" the first asked. "Rejoice, the rebellion is about to win. On Monday, Japan will be free to live as it dictates. Musaya Hiyim has made our dreams come true."

"Yeah," the second said again, glancing over at one of the tables. Musaya Hiyim sat there in her cloak, leaning forward and whispering to Nathaniel, who was holding her hands. They were laughing and joking. It was a beautiful sight. "But…I can't get over the fact that the war's almost over. What will we do now?"

"Whatever we want!" the first said. "Train new recruits if that's what you want to do. Live a normal life…What exactly are you getting at?"

"How can we live a normal life after living under the command of Musaya Hiyim and Captain Nate? Don't you get it? Once this war's over, everything will change. Musaya and Nate will become too busy with politics and family life to even think about any of us. At the end of the war, we will lose them forever," the second replied with a sad shake of his head.

"That will never happen, Brandon," the kind, familiar, powerful, familiar voice spoke behind them. Instantly, the two twirled around to see Musaya standing behind them. A large smile was on her face.

"Musaya!" Brandon said in surprise and embarrassment. "I…well…"

"Brandon, relax," Nathanial said, leaning down next to him. "This army is our family. Nothing that Musaya or I do will ever change that. There will always be an unbreakable bond between us."

"Relax. Smile. Enjoy what you have while you have it," Musaya said, setting her hand on the soldiers shoulder. "Today is a day of celebration. Soon, very soon, all of our dreams will come true." For the briefest of a second, as she said this, a look of unhappiness crossed her face, but she managed to destroy it before anyone noticed. Standing to her feet, she said, "I'll be back later. Don't hold up the party for me." Then she turned and walked out of the camp.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A frown occupied Musaya's face as she walked through the woods, glancing around and listening to the night music. Happily ever after…a fairy tale life…The words were beautiful, and filled her with warm thoughts. Happily ever after…but, no. Most people were confused. Many fairytales did not end that way, and she knew this would be one of those kinds. Ever since her little rebellion began, she'd had this plan in mind. Even before she knew General Dakota or the Dictator very well, this had been the plan. Now that it was here, though, it was something that she knew she didn't want to do.

What would happen if she did? What would her army think, or Nathanial, how would he respond? "I don't want to do this…" Musaya said, glancing up at the sky hopelessly. "There must be some other way…any other way." _No,_ she thought to herself._ You know that there isn't. If the rebellion is to succeed, sacrifices must be made, and I, as Musaya Hiyim, leader of the rebellion, and the most respected person in the world, must be the one to pay that price._

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The trip to the factory was completely uneventful. Jeremie walked quietly and with purpose. The supercomputer was his life, and he was about to take his next major step. He was going to alter the towers. His goal was to eventually remove their activatability, and thus any threat that they could ever have. He'd never forgotten the strange feeling that had pulsed through him when he was in the elevator two years before. It had to be nothing, he'd always told himself. After all, there wasn't any doubt that XANA had been killed. Yet, he wouldn't actually feel safe until he fixed this problem.

Truthfully, though, he was at a standstill. He'd figured out a way to make the towers weaker, but beyond that, he could think of nothing else. That was the purpose in going to the factory today, to implant his new program and see if that opened up any options that he hadn't already thought of. As he swung himself down the long rope and landed on the ground below, he couldn't help but wish he'd been able to do this back when XANA had been a threat. Back then, it would have made everything so much easier.

Frowning, Jeremie pushed the thought from his head. Back then didn't matter. Aelita, Ulrich, Yumi and Odd. They were nothing to him anymore. They hadn't needed him, and he didn't need them.

Unlike his one-time friends, try as he might, Jeremie couldn't get away from the supercomputer. Ironically, as long as he was near it, he would never be able to forget his former friends. It was hard for him to except, that he'd been the one to bring them all together, only to unintentionally pull them apart in the end. They'd believed in happily ever after, but that hadn't happen. There were always complications in life.

"Jeremie?" Jim said from behind him, "what are you doing?"

The voice pulled Jeremie back to the present, and he shook his head to clear his mind. "Jim?" he asked with a frown. "Do you ever feel like everything you are doing is a result of the past, that you missed your days of importance, and now you just seem to linger on, not really living?"

"All the time," Jim said with a frown. "Why in my youth…Actually, I'd rather not talk about it."

"Me neither," Jeremie said, shaking his head. "Me neither."


	12. Epi 2, Chpt 4: A Glance Into the Past

This chapter sort of like wrote itself. It wasn't what I was planning on putting next, but I suppose it was the best spot to put it. So please enjoy

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Chapter #4: A Glance Into the Past**

Sabrina Belpois was a young woman of about twenty-four and had been married for not more than a year when she was rushed to the hospital to give birth to her first child. Dmitri Belpois was waiting for her there when she arrived, having been at work when the convulsions had first begun. Despite the pain that was coursing through her, Sabrina was able to look at her husband with a smile. They had decided together that they would have nine children, and this was just the beginning.

However, things began to go horribly wrong. The news was revealed that she was pregnant with twins, and both had ended up in rather awkward positions, one upside-down, and another in an odd, slanted position. Other things, too, were wrong, most of which were too complicated for the simple couple to understand. One thing was clear, though. The doctors were afraid, not just for the lives of the twins, but for Sabrina's life as well.

Some strange virus had infected the three of them that the doctors had never even heard of before. The virus was majorly bizarre, because in many ways it seemed to react exactly like a computer-generated virus. Given the order to leave the room, Dmitri found himself alone, scared, watching the door and wondering what was going on inside. Alas, the door was made to block out sound, and did a pretty good job with that. However, it was not strong enough to block out the high-pitched, blood-curdling scream that issued forth from within.

Horrified and stricken, Dmitri leaned back against the wall and tears came to his eyes. He was certain that the scream could mean only one thing, Sabrina was dead. Eventually, the door opened, and a doctor walked out to him. "I'm sorry…" he said, and Dmitri began to weep. "Your wife, and one of your children didn't make it."

Dmitri looked up through his tears. "One of them is still alive?" he asked, his eyes hopeful and pleading.

"Yes," the doctor said, nodding his head. "One of your children still lives… but, he's weak, very weak. The virus seems to have crippled him. He can still move all of his limbs, but it is my belief that he will always be weak physically. Treat him delicately. Too much strain, and I believe it will kill him. Right now, he is still in emergency care, but you can see him now."

For a moment, Dmitri hesitated. He wanted to see his wife, to say to goodbye to her. That was what he wanted most in the world. However, she was gone, and only her son remained. He'd go see his son first, he decided, the living were always more important than the dead. "That's the way you'd want it, right Sabrina?" he whispered to himself, glancing at the operating room. "Our son will always be the first thing in my life. I'll treat him as more important than anything else. That, at least, I can promise you."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

And Dmitri Belpois was true to his word. Raising Jeremie Belpois was always the most important thing in his life, even after he meeting the woman of his dreams six years later. From the day of his birth, there was something not quite normal about young Jeremie. It was as if his mind were on fast-forward. At only six months, he could walk steadily, and at a year he could speak. By the age of three, he began to spend his time staring at his father and studying the way his father used the computer. At the age of five, he was able to read as well as a first grader. Also, his computer skills were simply amazing.

People simply called it a rapid growth, or something like that. They credited it to the fact of his weakness. It was odd. He was never sickly and slept no more than any other average kid did, yet he was also never strong. When most kids ran around and played, he'd always stood inside, observing things. They refused to accept what they knew to be true, that a man like Dmitri could raise a child who appeared to be such an absolutely amazing genius.

As Jeremie grew, Dmitri doted upon him, calling him a genius, and despite his low income, doing whatever he could to raise his son's dreams and expectations and give him as perfect of a life as possible. Impressively, he managed to do so without spoiling the child. Despite whatever anyone else might have said, Dmitri was an amazing father.

As mentioned before, it was at this point in Dmitri's life that he met an amazing woman who renewed his joy in living. For six years, Jeremie had been his sole delight, but Priscilla showed him that there was so much more to enjoy. The two fell in love, and by Jeremie's seventh birthday, he had a new mother.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

On the wedding day, Jeremie presented a gift to his parents, announcing that he had made it for them. The two parents peered at it in interest, because what he was giving them was a small plastic box. Prisicilla reached forward and took it.

"Open it, Mommy," Jeremie said with a smile. So Priscilla did, and music began to play. The music was beautiful, and a song that the guests all knew well. As the guests turned to see where the music was coming from, Prisicilla and Dmitri looked at their son in amazement. At the age of only seven, he had created a music box.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

That, however, was by no means the end. On his eighth birthday, Jeremie announced his intention to change the world by creating a time machine. Priscilla and Dmitri encouraged him, let him work, and let him dream. However, they weren't stupid. Time travel was a science-fiction thing. Regardless of how intelligent young Jeremie became, he wouldn't be able to do it.

However, as they watched, doubt began to occupy their minds. Jeremie always seemed so sure, and really appeared to be making progress. He worked on the project for an entire year, before he came to a dead-end. Shortly after turning nine, he tossed aside his contraption, having come to a dead-end. His studies were conclusive. A machine that allowed you to travel through time was impossible to create. Both of his parents looked at the contraption in awe, though. If an eight year old could do something as complex as he had been doing for the last year, what would he be able to do by the time he became an adult?

However, as Jeremie soon realized, the studies didn't quite say what he had first understood them to say. He began to realize that travelling over a long distance couldn't be done, but travelling over an extremely short distance might be possible. So, he secretly set to work on inventing something that would allow a person to go back, say a day. It just needed to be long enough to correct any horrible mistake a person might have made.

Three more years passed in which Dmitri, Prisicilla and Jeremie lived together contentedly. During this time, Jeremie found a hobby that he really enjoyed, creating robots. Then, at the age of twelve, Dmitri decided that he had been being selfish. All of middle-school and before that, Dmitri had been teaching his son at home. Now he had to admit that he could not teach Jeremie as well as a good school could. So, after doing some searching, he enrolled his son in a school by the name of Kadic Academy.

Shortly after arriving, Jeremie set aside his time-travel studies. He'd come to a standstill. He was sure that there were a few bugs left in his invention, but he had no way of finding out what they were. His idea needed the most powerful computer he'd ever heard of, a kind that was so expensive that only two hundred had ever been made, in order to even hold the program. Jeremie had doubts whether even it would be able to actually operate it. So, perhaps for a long, long time, his discovery would be useless.

Months passed in which Jeremie devoted himself to creating robots, before deciding that it would be quite nice if he could get his hands on some much more complex parts. Having heard about an old factory nearby, he headed there. It was at there that he first stumbled upon the supercomputer. The next thing, he had never told anyone.

Jeremie frowned as he stared at the giant computer. There was something odd here, something not quite right. The room itself seemed quite ominous, and the symbol, for some strange reason, seemed to very familiar to him. He couldn't place where, but he knew in his mind that the computer was trouble. An inner part of his being was crying out with terror, telling him that he had no right to be in this room. Somebody had turned off the computer and for good reason, of that he was sure.

"That's simply paranoia," he whispered to himself angrily. "Without proof, believing this to be dangerous is ridiculous. It's nothing more than a computer." However, to him that statement itself seemed to be what was ridiculous. Oddly, it was difficult to tare himself away. The computer was calling to him, as if its presence were somehow living inside of him. Somehow, he managed to leave the room, but as he did, he knew he would return that night.

Science called for vast amounts of risk. He'd always known that. This computer would allow him to test, once and for all, his time travel idea. Surely whatever risk was involved in turning on the computer would more than be compensated for by the scientific discovery it would allow him to make.

So, that night, he ventured out into the factory and headed down to the room where the hard drive rested. Grabbing the handle, he said, "I sure hope I'm not going to regret this in a minute." Then he pulled the lever, and his life was never the same.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

And that is the end of Chapter Four. The glimpse into the past is done. Next chapter is when everything will start to combine. Jeremie Belpois, science teacher at Kadic Academy, is about to have his life majorly shaken up.

Please review. Once I have five more, I will write the next part.

3


	13. Epi 2, Chpt 5: The Nightmare Begins

**Chapter #5: The Nightmare Begins**

To try to truly express the depth of the misery that was troubling Musaya would be impossible. Her intelligence, wisdom, courage, and power, they were unparralled. People didn't try to think at her level; it simply wasn't done. For all practical purposes, therefore, to attempt would be madness.

As the dark cast shadows over the land, Musaya stared out at the stars and the moon. "This is it," she whispered quietly to herself as she stared. _No more. _The moon, the stars, the beauty of the world, there had been a time when she hadn't truly been able to appreciate it. Technology and activities had replaced it, so that it was no longer necessary. For years, she'd lived in the city, and hadn't minded in the slightest. Now…well…to live there again, away from the wild, the trees, the forests, would be torture.

There was no going back, and as she well knew, there wasn't much left of a future. General Dakota and the Dictator were all that was left. Then… A shiver ran down her spine. She'd done her best not to think about it, but she'd done what she could. There was only one way to pull off this revolution. She knew that her plan couldn't fail. It was the only sure option. The future was for Nathaniel, Brandon and everything else that had followed her through the hard times. It wasn't for her.

She didn't care. That was what she told herself. This was required, necessary, and she was ready for it. Just before the last battle, she'd believed she was. Now, however, as the moment loomed over her. She had to admit the truth. She was scared stiff, and wished, even prayed, that something else would surface, something that didn't require her giving away what she so desperately wanted to keep. Hesitation began to fill her; desperation almost began to take over. It was impossible. It wouldn't work. Any lie that she could think of.

Then it was shattered by a thought that burst, unwanted, into her head. _Selfish! Are you really willing to turn away from the people that have believed in you for this long? No._ That was the answer. It gave her the strength that she needed. It's going to cost you your life! The fact still haunted her thoughts, but she knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that she would do it anyway. There was no turning back. For Nathaniel, and for everybody that had placed their hope in her, she would continue. Nothing, nothing, would hold her back. That she promised.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The room that stretched out around Jeremie was almost its own world to him, and one that he knew beyond what most people would believe to be possible, or at least natural. That, in admittance, was true. There was nothing natural about the familiarity that Jeremie shared with this room.

If all of his life were to be laid out, it would shortly become obvious that almost everything important in his life either took place in this room or as a result of something happening in this room. Since the age of twelve, it had been the center of everything, and Jeremie was now certain that it always would be.

Here he'd spent the three longest years of his life, here he'd come many times to be alone often during his latter years at Kadic, here was where his dreams had taken him while he was away at college, and this room was the place that had called him away from college and through the rain that fateful day three years before. This room was home to him, and he knew it so well that he was familiar with even the air of the room. It was as if the walls, the floor, the computer screen, even the temperature that the room gave off melded together to create a certain air, and Jeremie was able to discern what that was, and when it changed.

So it was that as Jeremie stepped out of the elevator, despite the fact that his mind had retreated into the past, into a far away other-worldly place, both unreachable and untouchable, he found himself suddenly jerked back to the present. It was as obvious to him as if someone had painted the walls. Something was wrong, horribly wrong. His mind was wide awake and focused on the room. It was as if everything simply became calculations. Jim was talking behind him, but that was simply data, data that belonged to the room. He had to find the data that had been inserted, the piece that didn't belong.

Whatever the feeling was, it gave off a chill, a nightmarish chill of complete and total evil. It was as if every nightmare he had ever had, hidden in the deepest and darkest recesses of his mind, had crawled out and embodied the room, as if they were suddenly real, and oh so dangerous. It was a declaration of destruction and hatred, an evil of such raw intensity that Jeremie knew he had never felt it before.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Meanwhile, far off in Japan, Musaya had begun the slow walk back to her home-base. As she walked, she found herself surprised at how far away she had wandered while lost in her thoughts. Something about the distance disturbed her, as if, somehow, she knew what was going to happen next. Then it did. A loud, piercing scream of despair and agony blotted out the normal sounds of the sight. There was, sadly, no doubt about it. The scream had come from the camp!

Instantly, she began to sprint towards her base. She had always been a fast runner, one of the best at her school, but the speed which she now used would have left any of those runners far behind. Her feet hit the ground, and she ran, driven by sheer force of will, as apprehension and fear raced through her veins.

As she ran, she cursed herself silently for her sloppiness, for being such an idiot. She, Musaya Hiyim, had made two horrible and unforgivable mistakes. The first one was making sure that General Dakota had actually gone back to the capital. Believing that she'd known him inside and out, she'd simply taken it for granted. However, it had to be him attacking her base, nobody else would be able to handle such a thing. _Curse you! _She whispered to herself in anger, as she pulled her hood back over her head. _You knew that a single mistake could unravel everything! How could you let this happen?_

The second mistake only truly mattered because of the first one. In her depression and misery, looking ahead to something she was know doubting would ever even be given the chance to take place, she had forgotten her weapon in her tent! Therefore, as she came closer and closer to the camp, she began to wonder what she could possible do once she arrived. All she knew was that she needed to do something.

Feet slamming, head pounding, she ran, led by the piercing screams that shattered the night. One after another after another, filled with agony. Yet, they were mixed with other screams, ones made not due to pain but due to terror. Whatever was happening there must have been truly terrible.

Then, at long last, the camp came into view, and Musaya stopped in horror. The entire camp was ablaze, burning, burning, burning. With it, in the smoke that was rising into the air, went Musaya's dream of a free Japan. Rage, untamable rage, filled her, and with a cry she charged forward into the smoke-filled camp.

Around her, she saw people fleeing, running, terror on their faces. Many were on the ground, bleeding and lifeless, while yet others, still alive, had collapsed to the ground from the smoke. The bizarre thing, which filled Musaya with a horrible dread, was the fact that she saw no enemies. Every once and a while, though, the sound of an explosion could be heard over the screams, but that was it.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Face sweating, eyes wide with uneasiness, Jeremie made his way over to the computer. As he stepped in front of him, he let out a gasp, and turned to Jim, his eyes wide, his face appearing to be that of a wild animal. "He's back!" Jeremie whispered in fear, pointing at the computer screen. "He's back." Jim, peering at the computer screen, turned white. On it was a picture of a red tower.

Suddenly, Jeremie knew. The reason he'd had that feeling of his nightmares returning made perfect sense now. The thoughts, the fears that had been haunting him for the last twelve years, were true. Xana was still alive, and due to the alterations of the supercomputer, probably much, much more powerful.

Swallowing nervously, breathing in and out, Jeremie turned to Jim. "I'm going to Lyoko," he said quietly. "I need to do whatever I can to stop him."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Musaya!" one of the soldiers cried, noticing their leader standing, as if in a daze. He quickly pushed his way over to her and grabbed her arm. "What are you doing? You need to get out of here! Run, now! He's invincible!"

Musaya shook her head to clear it, but before she even had a chance to respond. A blast shot out of the darkness, colliding into the man, and then hurling the lifeless, sparking corpse into a flaming tent, which proceeded to fall down on top of him.

"You're not going anywhere," a voice, familiar and yet, strangely deep, said. Then General Dakota stepped into view. Through the smoke, it was hard to make him out, but Musaya could have sworn that his eyes were glinting. "Did you think that you'd be able to escape from me out here? Nothing, and nobody, escapes my grasp. Now, you will pay the ultimate punishment for your crimes!"

Then he held up his hand, and Musaya watched as a glowing force began to generate itself there, a sparkling purple ball. She wanted to reach down and grab her weapons, to fight back, to do something, but there was nothing she could do. She was defenseless, and he was invincible. "Farewell," General Dakota cried, and the blast flew at her.

"Noooo!" The cry was heard, yet as if it were in slow motion. It was as if the entire world were waiting in suspense to see what was going to happen. Who knows, perhaps it was. Nathaniel, his gun blazing, threw himself between General Dakota and Musaya. Several bullets pierced through the general, causing him to stumble backwards in pain. The blast collided into Nathaniel, ripping the life out of him.

"Musaya, catch!" Brandon's voice cried out, and she twirled just in time to snatch her weapons out of the air. Spinning around, she hurled it out, and it flew straight and true. Before the general could do anything more, the weapons hit, and the decapitated body fell to the ground. Then there was silence, except for the crackling of fire.

Within minutes, the camp was nothing but rubble, and the surviving soldiers had all gathered around Musaya, who was kneeling before the body of her fallen beloved, tears filling her eyes. Then, as she noticed her army around her, her face hardened. "Brandon," she said coldly and calculatingly. "Get me a ticket to Paris, France."

"But…" Brandon said in confusion.

"It is not something that we can be disputing about. I'll be back before Monday, I promise. Right now, I need to go to France."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Wait!" Jim said, and Jeremie paused. "It…It's not activated anymore."

Jeremie turned around and walked back over to the computer. He peered at it in confusion, puzzled. "I don't get it…" he said with a frown. "Why would he activate a tower, and then…." He trailed off.

Jim turned and looked at Jeremie questioningly. "So, what are we going about this?"

Jeremie's eyes hardened. "There is only one thing we can do," he said quietly. "We need to reform the Lyoko Warriors."

4


	14. Epi 3, Chpt 1: The School Year Begins

At long last, what you've all been waiting for. The next chapter in my Lyoko Warriors story! When we last left our characters, Muisaya Hiyim was rushing to Paris after the near destruction of her army, while Jeremie and Jim had discovered that Xana was still alive and were getting ready to reassemble the Lyoko Warriors.

(If you haven't yet read my rewritten version of Episode 1 Chapter 1, do not read this episode until afterwards. Some things in that version of the chapter are critical for this chapter.)

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Episode 3: The Lyoko Warriors**

**Chapter #1: The School Year Begins**

"And how exactly do you plan on doing that?" Jim said with a frown. "It's not like you know where they are or anything. For all we know, they might not even live in Paris anymore!" He shook his head. It was impossible.

"True," Jeremie said, agreeing. "For all we know, they might not even live in France anymore. Regardless, I will find them out where they went. I have to. Xana's back, and we are the only ones who can bring him down."

"I hate to break it to you, Jeremie," Jim said, "but now is not the time! The students are arriving today. If you don't want to get fired, you need to be their today. In fact, if we don't move now, we're going to be late."

Jeremie frowned as he glanced at the computer and then back to Jim. "But," he said nervously, "Xana's back. He could do anything! I can't just let him rampage! Something horrible could happen!"

"Today is the beginning of the new year, Jeremie," Jim said. "If you skip it, you are going to get fired. That should be obvious. It would be a horrible example to the students, and Principal Delmas would certainly have something to say about it. Besides, Xana just finished attacking. So putting this search off a couple of hours shouldn't be too dangerous."

Jeremie glanced again at the computer screen and nodded his head. "You're probably right." Then he stood up and swung his coat over his shoulders.

It was cold for being so early in the year. It was as if the whole world were darkening, as if some form of coldness was creeping over everything. Jim was aware, though Jeremie was not, that this strange weather seemed to be happening all over. Even in places like Hawaii and Japan, people were going around wearing coats. It was as if the whole world were beginning to go through a second Ice Age. The very thought sent a shiver of fear down Jim's spine.

The world was becoming scarier and darker wherever you went. He'd felt it in the air, and crime had begun to rise. Rebellions and wars were breaking out all over the place. It seemed very much like the world was coming to an end. Then, to make matters worse, they'd stumbled upon this. Xana, the nightmare that had haunted his dreams ever since Jeremie's return and regaining his memory, was alive.

"Let's go," Jeremie said with a smile, motioning to Jim. "I want to get acquainted with my new students." Then he hit the call button for the elevator, and the door opened. Stepping in, he paused and waited for Jim. There was something lightening about the arrival of students at Kadic, as there had been the previous three years as well. He enjoyed meeting the new faces and figuring out what type of student each was. His goal afterward was always the same, find a way to make every student interested. His teaching styles were bizarre, and the kind he knew Odd would like.

This time, he didn't wince at his former friend's name, he simply paused and thought. _Odd Della Robia, Ulrich Stern, Aelita Stones, Yumi Ishyama, William Dunbar. I'll make up for what I did, _Jeremie said quietly. _We'll need to get back together to stop Xana, and I will fix everything then. Odd, Ulrich, Aelita, Yumi, William, I'm so sorry… _He would never be able to make peace with everyone, not after the horrible tragedy. They're group had almost fallen apart when it had occurred. He knew, fully and completely, that what had happened was his fault. He was the one who'd come up with the idea in the first place… 

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Hey, William…" Jeremie said, approaching a student who was sitting alone and staring off into space. William was tall, about six foot, with wild dark hair and a handsome face. His smile was kind, joking, jovial. Despite the many things that he had suffered, mostly as a direct result of the Lyoko Warriors, he was still kindly and good-natured. He was the only one that Jeremie thought could possibly understand what he was going to ask.

"Huh?" William started, before turning around. "Woah, Jeremie!" he said with a shocked smile. "Haven't seen you in a long time. What's up?"

"I need to go to the store tonight," Jeremie replied simply. "I was wondering if you could take me. You see, I don't have a car or anything, and…"

"Jeremie, it's late, and graduation is in the morning. What could possibly be so important that you have to do it today?" William asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Umm…A new kind of computer cartridge came out…" Jeremie began. He could feel the presence of many eyes on him. Frowning quietly to himself, he shook his head.

"A new computer cartridge," William said, raising his eyebrows with a smirk. "And this can't wait for tomorrow because…?"

"I'll show you," Jeremie said, motioning for William to follow him. Frowning and shrugging his shoulders, William stood up and followed Jeremie out of the wreck room, across campus and into the dorms. Then, to William's confusion, he turned and continued out the backdoor and into the woods.

Then William stopped and gave Jeremie a disapproving look. "Where are we going?" he asked with a frown. "You know we're not supposed to leave campus without permission!"

"I…It's…" Jeremie stammered. "It's about Lyoko." He braced himself for William's reaction. "I've been looking through it, and…"

"You turned it back on?" William asked in disbelief. His voice grew angry. "Jeremie, what do you think you're doing? When did you start this?"

"About a week ago," Jeremie replied quietly. "I wanted to see a couple of things one last time before leaving…"

"It's dangerous, Jeremie. You need to turn it back off." William said, his voice filled with apprehension. "You never know what dark secrets it might still contain!"

"I will," Jeremie said, "but I need your help first. There's a unique kind of cartridge. I ordered it and had it sent to a pawnshop dealer in town. I need that…"

"Why?" William asked, his face getting very serious. "Jeremie, you're not only endangering yourself, but all of us as long as you keep that infernal machine on! Shut it down!"

"I can't do that yet," Jeremie said. "I might…I might have found proof that Franz Hopper is still alive!"

William froze, his face filling with wonder. "You mean, Aelita might…"

"Might not be an orphan after all," Jeremie replied. "However, without that cartridge, there is no way to know for certain. I was hoping to find out whether it was true or not before I told anyone, but with the way the roads are today, I don't believe I can drive well enough to get through it alone."

William nodded his head and said quietly, "I understand. Tell you what. Get down to the factory right now, and get it as ready as possible without the cartridge. I'll go to the store and pick it up. I'll call you when I'm almost back."

So Jeremie headed down to the factory and waited. Several hours passed, and when his phone rang, it wasn't William calling him. It was Principal Delmas. According to what could be understood, a small American-looking girl had run into the road, and William had tried not to hit her. His car had gone into a spin, had spun off the road, crashed into a building and exploded. Nothing was left, and the remains of William's body were never found. It had been destroyed, utterly and completely, engulfed in the flames.

That night Jeremie wept, and the next day, he told everyone everything. How he'd turned on Lyoko, how he'd searched through it, how he'd the possibility that Franz Hopper was alive, how he'd enlisted William's help, and how it had led to both his death and the destruction of the only thing that could ever have told if Franz Hopper was still alive. He'd wanted to surprise them, and his secrecy had cost William his life…

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Jeremie?" Jim's voice said, calling him back to reality. For a second, he was puzzled. He was back at Kadic. Then he understood. He'd been so out of it that he'd made the entire trip back sort of on autopilot. In front of him were countless vehicles with students pouring out. Jim was smiling, and Jeremie searched through them, looking for the kids who would be his students.

Suddenly, a young female voice called out of the crowds. "Jim? Jim!" Jim spun around, his eyes widening. It couldn't be! Rushing out of the crowd, her black hair blowing behind her, was Willow Arkansas. Then Jim's eyes widened. When he'd seen it before, he'd never thought much about it, but now that he knew, a shiver of confusion and uncertainty ran through him. Around her neck was what he now knew to be a medallion of Xana.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

So, Willow has returned. Franz Hopper might still be alive. And Jeremie is responsible for William's death. What will happen next? :) Please read and review.


	15. Epi 3, Chpt 2: Selfishness

Ok, so nothing that I had planned to happen happened in this chapter. The something bad I mentioned earlier won't happen for at least another two episodes, and this could easily turn out to be the longest episode if I can't get the actual planned storyline to progress somewhere. Anyways, more about Willow and Jeremie's life as a teacher, and as a betrayer.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Chapter #2: Selfishness**

_What's wrong with you?_ Jim thought with a frown, shaking the evil thoughts from his head. _This is Willow, we're talking about!_ His smile returned, and he embraced his friend. "Willow," he said with a smile, holding her tight. "What…What are you doing here?"

"My family recently decided that this school was the right place for me," Willow replied. "I'm now an official student of Kadic Academy. I'll be staying here forever, now."

_Forever,_ the word echoed through Jim's head, and he found himself glancing at Jeremie. Jeremie was lost in thought, peering into the group of people, and Jim shook his head with a chuckle. There was no doubt who Jeremie was looking for. Kimura Kaiyo was a brilliant young woman of seventeen. She was about average height with blond hair that ran halfway down her back. Her laugh, like an angel, her eyes twinkled like stars, every part of her was beautiful, and yet her beauty was rivaled by her wisdom and intelligence.

Jim knew full-well that the reason Jeremie had originally returned to Kadic Academy was the supercomputer. Now, though, he believed that the reason he stayed was this woman. She was kind, compassionate, quiet but always willing to listen. She was calm and generous. However, the things that Jim believed drew Jeremie the best were her amazing ability to forgive anyone regardless of the wrongs that they had committed against her, her gentleness, always looking for a peaceful solution to whatever problem came her way, and her and her selflessness, always putting others before herself.

She was perfect for him, Jim knew, and he believed that Jeremie knew it as well. She was the complete opposite of what he had been his final years at Kadic Academy, and everything that he someday wanted to be. The nice thing was that the two of them seemed to have fallen in love, and had gone out on many dates together. This year, it would be like paradise for Jeremie. He taught the eleventh grade science class, and that was where she would be this year.

"Jim?" Willow asked, calling his attention back to her. "What is it? You've got a strange grin on your face."

"Umm…" Jim said, shaking his head and trying not to laugh. "Nothing. Hey, Jeremie, I want you to meet someone."

Jeremie, shaken out of his trance, turned towards Jim. His excitement and eagerness were evident in his posture. "Yes?" he asked.

"This is my good friend, Willow Arkansas. She's an American girl who came to Kadic Academy for an exchange program four years ago. She was the one who helped me through Mrs. Hertz's class."

Jeremie turned to Willow and smiled welcomingly. "Welcome to Kadic Academy, Willow. Jim has told me so much about you. It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person." Then he bowed playfully and said, "So, is this your second trip to Paris then?"

"No, as a matter of fact," Willow said, eyeing Jeremie strangely. Jeremie looked back at her with his smile. "I've been here once before, about five years ago." She lowered her head and said, "That's when I made the biggest mistake anyone could ever make. I ran into the middle of the road without looking for cars, and…"

Jeremie's eyes widened. "William…the little girl…that was you?" He took a step back in stunned silence. "You're the little girl that killed my best friend?" He turned, his face pale and his hands shaking, and ran as fast as he could away from the gates and Willow.

Jim, stunned for a second, forced himself to relax. Then he turned to Willow and said, "Excuse me," before running off after Jeremie.

Willow simply watched them go, before muttering to herself. "Jeremie…He knows nothing. Didn't even blink when he saw my medallion. William, have to investigate that deeper. Jim though, dear, dear Jim, he seemed startled by it, even though he saw it many times a couple of years ago. Have to find out why the sudden reaction change." Then, making a mental note, she turned and slipped back into the crowd.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Jeremie!" Jim called out in frustration, still unable to catch up with his old friend. He'd gotten faster. That was certain, much faster. "Wait up!" Ahead of him, Jeremie came to a stop. "What are you doing?" Jim scowled in frustration. "Where are you going?"

Jeremie glanced back at him and shook his head. "Are you blind?" he asked incredulously. "We just found out that Xana killed William, and you want me to just sit there!"

"Wait a minute," Jim said, his eyes glinting with anger. "Xana didn't kill him. An icy road and Willow's mistake that night is what did it."

"Jim," Jeremie said, giving his friend an angry look. "Are you honestly going to tell me that you're going to deny the obvious? She is wearing a medallion that looks just like Xana! If she doesn't work for him, then how did she get that? Why is she wearing it?"

"Willow is not a villain," Jim replied simply. "She is my friend, and the closest one I've ever had. She can't be evil, not her."

"Look, Jim," Jeremie said. "When she was eight, she killed William. About four years ago, she killed Mrs. Hertz…"

"She didn't kill Mrs. Hertz!" Jim said, his voice rising in anger. "She just got here right before Mrs. Hertz died."

"You yourself said that you didn't think her death was natural," Jeremie said.  
"Willow didn't kill her!" Jim said. "She was on the field with me when Mrs. Hertz died!"

"And now she shows up here right after Xana appeared," Jeremie said. "I'm sorry, Jim, but that can't all simply be coincidence! She is working for Xana."

"You're an idiot," Jim whispered quietly. "You don't even know her, and you are already judging her. She is no more a villain than your precious Kimura Kaiyo!" Jeremie raised his fists in anger, and Jim readied himself to fight. It was the first time that they had ever fought this much and over something that both of them felt so strongly about.

Then, just as they were about to bring each other to blows, Delmas walked into view. He had a look of utter seriousness on his face. "Jim, Jeremie," he said, taking in the whole scene and dismissing it. "I know how much you two are interested in Muisaya Hiyim's career, and I think that you need to see this. It's terrible." Then he quickly motioned for them to follow, and the two did, shooting angry glares at each other as they did so.

Delmas lead them into his office and pointed at his large screen TV. On it, all that they could see was smoke and fire. "One man," Delmas told them, "with the powers of a small god." Then it showed General Dakota stepping into view, and Jim stumbled back in horror. Jeremie, once again, didn't react. "Do you know what that means?" Delmas asked, giving Jim an interested look. Jim simply stood silent and stared at the carnage.

"All of this happened last night," a voice said on the screen.

"Did you think that you'd be able to escape from me out here? Nothing, and nobody, escapes my grasp. Now, you will pay the ultimate punishment for your crimes!" the voice spoke, and a shiver of fear ran down Jeremie's spine. It had been a long time since he'd last heard it, but nowhere near long enough. _Xana_…but, why would he attack Muisaya Hiyim? What was he up to?

Jeremie turned and walked out of the building, not glancing back. He'd waited too long for this. He needed to get the Lyoko Warriors back together again. So turning, he began to head away from Kadic Academy and towards the city. "Jeremie!" a familiar voice called from behind him, but unlike before, it wasn't able to dispel the gloom and fear that he was feeling. Running up to him, a wide smile on her face, was Kaiyo.

"Kaiyo," Jeremie said…his voice quiet. Could he really drag her into all of this? She didn't know anything about his past or what he did while he wasn't with her, and she'd always been ok with that. He hadn't told her anything because, because it hadn't necessary. Now… how could he ask her to share his burden?

"Is something wrong?" Kaiyo asked, her sweet voice offering to take away Jeremie's fears. "You know you can always tell me."

Jeremie looked down and said, "I…I don't want to hurt you, Kaiyo. I'm not safe to be around right now."

"What do you mean," Kaiyo asked, taking his hand, and forcing him to look her in the eye. "I promised I'd help you through your tough times, Jeremie. If this is one of them, then please, let me help you."

_She is no more a villain than your precious Kimura Kaiyo! _Jim's words echoed through his head, and his promise not to reveal his secret to anybody, no matter what. Sure, this hadn't come up for Ulrich or Yumi, they'd both known about Lyoko from the beginning, and Odd had broken the rule with Brynja, but it had still been a promise, and one that he had made up. How could he break the rules now…but at the same time, how could he not? It would be selfish, just like his actions several years before…

Jeremie slowly climbed out of the sewer passage, quiet, humbled and miserable._ Curse you, stupid computer! _He thought to himself, as the tears filled his eyes. Why? Why couldn't he ever break free from its horrible grasp? How was he supposed to tell the others that he was responsible for William's death? That he had broken his promise simply because he thought it would be better for him if he got to mess around with Lyoko one last time before leaving. He knew better. He'd been the one who had said to shut it down in the first place. He'd known, somehow, even then, that the supercomputer was still dangerous. Yet, he'd broken the rules and now William was dead.

As he made his trek back through the woods, he felt as though every creature, every plant, every rock, were looking at him as a murderer, a traitor, and a piece of junk. There was no excuse for what he'd done, so way to make it better, no way to fix it. William was dead, and even a return to the past wouldn't be able to bring him back. Why did I ever bother to invent that stupid device? It has never been able to fix any of the worst mistakes I have made. It's useless! The next chance I get, I'll destroy it. It will never mean anything more to me than failure, absolute and total failure.

Worse, even worse, was the thought of what Aelita would say to him. She'd always backed him up regardless of what others said about him, even when Xana had impersonated Franz Hopper! Aelita had never let him down. She'd always believed in him, but how could she now? In the truest sense of the word, he was a murderer. When he'd turned on the supercomputer, knowing that it was putting his friends into danger, he might as well have signed William's death sentence.

Slowly, in the distance, he saw the buildings of Kadic come into view. It was morning and, today was the day they had been working towards ever since they arrived at Kadic, graduation day. Yesterday, it had been marked as one of the greatest days of his life, before he had even had it. Now, now it was nothing but the day Jeremie Belpois died. When he spoke to Aelita, and she told him just how much like dirt he was, he'd die on the inside. He knew he would. The Lyoko Warriors were dead, and now, so was their friendship. With those thoughts, he stepped back into Kadic Academy, and headed towards the dorms to find the others.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

And that is the next chapter. Things are really going to get complicated eventually. I can hardly wait to write the Jeremie and Aelita meet again scene. Kaiyo, the beautiful smart student of Kadic Academy, has stolen Jeremie's heart. What happened in the meeting when Jeremie remet with his friends? Where is Jeremie planning on going now? Is Willow truly working for Xana, (perhaps Xana hasn't told her everything, or she's a new recruit trying to find out what is going on and working for Xana without being Xanafied), or does she have some kind of other motive here? Where is Muisaya Hiyim, and who made the video that was playing since Muisaya is not there at the moment? What will happen between Kaiyo and Jeremie? What about Aelita? What is Xana up to, and why in the world did he attack Muisaya Hiyim? What did he mean by, "Now, you will pay the ultimate punishment for your crimes!"

I think I gave you people enough stuff to ponder over until I write the next chapter. Tell you what, I'll write the next one after I receive twenty reviews. Until then.


	16. Epi 3, Chpt 3: Truth

Sad chapter. Got bored of waiting for another review, so I'll simply ask for six before the next one.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Chapter #3: The Truth**

Walking up to the outside door to the dormitory, Jeremie paused again with a grimace. How was he going to break the news to them? How could he? William's last conversation filled Jeremie with dread and guilt. After all, he'd ignored William's admonishing, and now the man was dead. That was murder, a burning hole in his chest. Forget the little girl. He was the one who'd sent William to his grave. If he'd been stronger, had found the strength to leave the computer…but no, "It will only be a week," he'd said, "and nobody will ever have to know."

Fear, too, had been his enemy. It had been the reason William had even been involved. If he'd only been able to hide his fear and drive to the store himself, he might be returning with amazing news, rather than news of betrayal and its consequences. He knew that it would break their hearts and, worst of all, that there would be no bonding together to fix it. They were too distant from each other for one thing, and for another, there was no time. Graduation was only in a few hours.

"Jeremie," came a voice from behind him, one filled with a deep sorrow. Jeremie turned around to see Yumi standing there. Instantly, he choked. His face turned pale, and he lowered his eyes. Before he did though, he could see that her face was a reddish-hue from weeping. Behind them, the door opened as Ulrich and Odd exited the building.

Jeremie found it impossible to look at his friends, and he found himself so filled with shame that it was impossible for him to even cry. What sort of a man was he, who was willing to endanger not only the happiness, but the very lives, of those he claimed to hold dearest to him for a little bit of pleasure?

"Guys, I can't find…" Aelita began, stepping out of the building. Her eyes fell on Jeremie, and she quietly said, "Oh." Then Jeremie felt her laying her head on his shoulder comfortingly, a sign of their affection, an offering of comfort and promise that they would be together through everything. This time, though, Jeremie refused to be comforted. He didn't deserve it.

"No," he said, shrugging her head off of his shoulder. "You guys don't get it. You guys don't know. Stop looking at me like that! I don't deserve your sympathy, and I don't want it. Once I tell you the truth, you won't even want to give it."

"Don't be ridiculous…" Aelita began, but Jeremie held up his hand to silence her.

"It's my fault," he said simply. "All of it. William's death is because of me."

"Stop it, Jeremie," Ulrich spoke up. "Whatever you did, whether you sent him on the road or not, you didn't kill him. The road was slippery, and a freak accident…"  
"I turned the supercomputer back on," Jeremie interrupted, and instantly everything fell silent. "I turned the super computer back on…"

"Wh…Why?" Yumi asked, her eyes wide. "What were you thinking!"

"That nobody would ever know," Jeremie replied simply. "That it would be a secret and that there would be no bad results. I turned it on so that I could look at Lyoko one last time."

Even Odd, with his endless supply of good jokes, couldn't come up with one to lighten the mood. He didn't even want to. "But, you're the one who insisted it be turned off in the first place!" he nearly spat. It was betrayal, simple as that. He'd broken the promise they'd all made two years earlier, the one he'd created himself.

"H…Ho…How could you?" Aelita asked, her eyes filled with tears. "Why would you?"

"Pleasure," Jeremie replied. That was the simple truth, hidden behind all of the complexity. The reason he'd turned the computer back on was for pleasure's sake alone, regardless of the consequences.

"And you didn't think to at least tell us you were endangering all of our lives? Oh, I forgot, you simply decided not to. Mind telling us how William got involved, or was he involved in this from the beginning too?" Ulrich asked through clenched teeth.

"No," Jeremie replied quietly. "William did nothing to be ashamed of. I went to him because I was afraid of driving on…"

"Wait," Aelita interrupted. "You had no problem with putting our lives in danger without letting us know, but you were unwilling to endanger your own?"

Jeremie opened his mouth to speak when Yumi asked, "And what were you having William do?"

"Retrieve a one-of-a-kind hardware piece that would…Just forget it. I sent him to do an errand for me concerning the supercomputer, and it killed him," Jeremie replied.

"So, you put our lives in danger, without willing to bother to risk your own, and your selfishness and utter disregard for others caused William to get killed?" Odd asked, his voice deadly serious. "You know what, Jeremie Belpois, you are by far the worst person I have ever met."

Yumi, Ulrich, and Aelita were simply silent, their horror completely summed up by Odd's poisoned words. Jeremie, quietly, meekly, remorsefully, said, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Aelita asked, her voice cold. "You've just shown us the real Jeremie Belpois, the selfish, conniving person that you have been since the very beginning. Everything that you've ever done has been to feed this lust for power and pleasure. You've never done anything for us, just made it look that way. You've been using us in the same way that Xana was, but at least he never pretended to be our friend while he did it! You had better be sorry for what you've done, you monster, but forgiveness, for all your lies since we first met you and that finally ended with someone's death, is impossible. Rot for all I care. I never want to see you again!" Then she turned and walked away. Ulrich, Yumi and Odd followed.

Jeremie nodded his head, "I understand, and I agree with you. It's over." Then he turned and walked out of Kadic Academy, through the woods, past the manhole, the sewers, the Hermitage, and Renault Factory. He headed out into whatever awaited Jeremie Belpois, Murderer and Betrayer, in the big, wide world.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

So, know we know at last what happened between Jeremie Belpois and his friends the tragic day of the graduation. And another interesting fact is revealed. Jeremie Belpois never graduated.


	17. Epi 3, Chpt 4: Kaiyo and Jeremie

Now we return to the present time where Kaiyo and Jeremie have just reunited after being separated for the summer. (Please read and review)

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Chapter #4: Kaiyo and Jeremie**

"Jeremie?" Kaiyo's kind voice called him back to reality. As he looked at her, he swallowed hard as he realized that none of his friends would want to talk to him. Sure they might have forgiven him for using them since the beginning of their friendship, but he was now doing exactly what had caused their break-up in the first place. It hadn't been William's death that broke them apart. That had only been a piece of it. The biggest thing had been his total disregard for their safety, and that he hadn't even bothered to tell them that he was putting them all at risk. They were mad at him for turning the supercomputer back on just so that he could mess around with it. That was exactly what he was doing now.

Whatever. They'd understand. They didn't really have much choice, anyway. After all, it's not like turning the supercomputer on had activated Xana. He'd been asleep for the last three years while it had been running. No, something else had done that activating, and he had an itching suspicion that it was Jim's little friend, Willow Arkansas. She'd been in all the right places at right times to avoid being blamed, but he knew it had to be more than just coincidence. She wasn't Xanafied, he knew that, but there was just something not right about that little girl. The medallion hovered in his mind, and he frowned. She worked for Xana, he was sure of it, and she did it of her own free will.

"Jeremie?" Kaiyo repeated, and Jeremie shook his head clear once again. "Please, talk to me. I want to help you."

"I can't tell you why, or how," Jeremie said, "but if you would be willing to come with me, I would greatly appreciate it."

"Where are you going?" Kaiyo asked, glancing back towards the school. "Shouldn't we be going to orientation and such? Isn't that a part of your job?" Nervously, she found herself pacing back and forth. After all, she was supposed to be there too, but she didn't want to go without Jeremie.

"Jim will handle it," Jeremie replied confidently. "He knows that there are things I have to do."

"And what are these things?" Kaiyo asked again, still frowning with worry. "I don't think that it's a good idea. You could get in a lot of trouble…"

"I'm going to the house of one of my old friends. I need to talk to her right away," Jeremie replied simply as he began to walk. Strong, athletic, black-haired, Japanese girl, Yumi Ishiyama. She lived nearby… or at least her parents did. While attending Kadic Academy, she'd only been a day student, walking back and forth from home every day. Her house had been where Aelita stayed the first day that she returned to earth…_Aelita._ _"Rot for all I care. I never want to see you again!"_

Jeremie nearly lost his balance, but Kaiyo caught his arm before he could fall. "Watch it," she whispered kindly, as she held his hand. Looking into his face and seeing the pain etched deeply into it, she asked "Aelita again?"

A small smile crept onto Jeremie's face. Sometimes he got the feeling that Kaiyo could actually read his thoughts, but the frown returned almost as instantly. "Yeah," he said quietly. "…I really was a jerk when I was a kid. I mean, the only people I could even call friends were the ones that I had been using to do battle with Xana. I still can't forget what Aelita said to me, but she was wrong. It didn't start that way…" As he spoke, his voice began to crack, and tears filled his eyes.

Kaiyo, wise, compassionate Kaiyo said nothing. She knew that the best response was simply to hold his hand and remind him with that loving gesture that she was here for him. She still remembered when she'd first discovered that the newest Kadic Academy teacher wasn't much older than herself. The fact had interested her, and since she liked to know things, had thought he would make a good friend. She'd met him and discovered how lost and alone he was, and that he was far more of a walking corpse than a living human being. He lived each day almost robotically, as if his heart had been turned off and his mind was for nothing more than work on the computer and teaching.

Her caring nature had drawn her to the wounded soul with one goal in mind, to bring Jeremie Belpois back to life. As she looked at Jeremie now, she knew that she had succeeded. Of course, falling in love with him had never been a part of the plan, but when two people were as connected as they had become, sharing all of their deepest fears and struggles with each other, it simply happened quite naturally. She and Jeremie had become one person, although it had happened so gradually that neither of them could tell when it had begun. It simply was."

"I…I can't say when it happened," Jeremie said, shaking his head sadly. "I just didn't want to stop fighting. It became my passion, my desire, my life, and to an extent, my joy. I enjoyed the feeling of smashing Xana down, of watching his monsters be destroyed. I began to love this power I had, this power over a being who was supposed to be invincible and over the people that would come at my beck and call to battle with the beast. It was a power that most people would never be able to imagine, a world that I could do whatever I wanted to, with a being inside to beat up and crush and show that I am the boss, and he is nothing but somebody to pound on.

"My friends, nothing but pawns, pawns to use to defeat Xana. Power, a deep and powerful hunger for power surged through my veins, and I became addicted to it. Even if it had been possible to defeat Xana by turning off the supercomputer, I would never have told the others. I wanted to crush this virus until it had nothing left and then kill it. Then, one day, all of a sudden, he was gone, and I could no longer fight him. Disappointed and frustrated, I tried to go back to the way things were before between me and my friends.

"I tried to once again view them as people to love and cherish, like I had in the beginning. However, a part of that old care never came back. That's why I could turn on the supercomputer without bothering to tell them. Were they friends? Yes. Should that stop me from doing what I want to do? No, of course not. Would they stop me if they knew? Yes. So I didn't tell them. Then William enaded up dead, and it woke me up to what I had done. By then it was too late. In all honestly, the old Jeremie Belpois died that day."

"The loving, caring, self-sacrificing boy that had first turned on the supercomputer was killed by Xana. Either that, or he was never was as sweet as he believed himself to be. Maybe, deep down, I'd always been that self-centered. I learned that there was no place in the world for me, and so I returned to Kadic Academy. Even here, I only belonged to the supercomputer. If I hadn't met you, well, I'd probably just let Xana kill me. Now, though…" he smiled as he looked at Kaiyo. "Now I have a reason to live, and that is worth fighting for. I need to get the others together if I want to have a chance of protecting you. I will never let him harm you."

Kaiyo never told Jeremie this, but one of the reasons she rarely commented on his heart-aching reflections was because she had no idea what he was talking about. He'd say this or that about Xana…this or that about a supercompter…this or that about one of his old friends, but he was never specific. Feeling that this vagueness was purpose, Kaiyo never tried to put together the clues he unwittingly gave her. Insteasd, she would simply dismiss those words and focus on the meanings and feelings behind each of them. For instance, he was willing to fight to keep her alive, and that was why he wanted to reconnect with his old friends. However, for the first time in a long time, she found herself arguing with one of his sentiments.

"But, Jeremie, wouldn't that be just using your friends as pawns again? I mean, the only reason that you want to get back into contact with them is so that they can protect me. I mean, I'm flattered, but…if that is the reason you want them back, make sure they know that it isn't because you want to remake the team or anything. Don't lie to them, and please Jeremie, don't deceive them."

Jeremie nodded his head. Friendship with his old friends was impossible. They didn't want to be around him anymore, and he had come to accept that. What he was doing now was nothing more than a business deal. He'd make right the wrong he'd done before, if possible, and they'd help him fight Xana. Also, they would help him protect Kaiyo, as it was one of their goals to protect people. What Jeremie didn't realize was that everything he wanted to do was completely selfish.

He wanted to make right his wrong so that he could stop fretting over it. He wanted to protect Kaiyo so that he would not be alone. He wanted to battle Xana because there was nothing in life that he loved more than smashing the virus down. He hadn't changed at all since before Xana got destroyed. Everything was for and about him. Every action that he had made for the last nine years was thought of solely in the light of how it would benefit him.

Suddenly looking up, Jeremie froze. Kaiyo stopped next to him in confusion. They stood in front of a yard that looked like it hadn't been mowed in years, and the house in front of them looked like nobody had lived in it or bothered to take care of it for several years. Everything was in disrepair and a horrible feeling of melancholy fell over Jeremie as he looked at it. "I don't get it," he said with a frown. "What ever happened to the Ishiyamas?" Kaiyo said nothing, simply staring at the depressing scene.

"Who are you?" an old, gravely voice said from behind him, and Jeremie twirled around to stare into the face of an elderly man leaning on a cane. "Did you know those people?"

"Yeah," Jeremie replied, glancing again at the house and then back at the old man. "Do you happen to know why they abandoned their house and where they went."

"Don't know know where they went," The elderly man said, quietly. "Nobody knows what happens afterward…" Jeremie looked at the man in confusion, and the man sadly said, "They're dead, boy, two years now."

Jeremie's eyes widened in shock and horror. "Dead?" he asked. "How!"

"Sickness" replied the elderly man with a frown. "Pneumonia. They all caught it while on a vacation someplace…Don't know where." Jeremie turned his shocked expression to Kaiyo, who looked at him with her loving smile but could think of nothing at all comforting to say. "'Course, that was only the ones who lived here," he continued, and Jeremie's eyes shot back to him.

"Meaning?" he asked hopefully.

"That girl, Oomi or something, she wasn't here. Showed up for the funeral but disappeared right after. Don't know where she went… Nobody does." The old man said, shaking his head. "Sorry for the bad news, young'en, but you'll find nobody here. This house will just sit here and rot, empty and abandoned…" With that the old man turned and wandered off, muttering to himself again, "it'll just rot, empty and abandoned…" Jeremie and Kaiyo simply stared after him in silence.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The tragedy of Jeremie Belpois is still being unraveled. The Ishiyamas are dead, and Yumi has apparently disappeared. Who is this mysterious old man? Is he simply a kindly neighbor (most likely), or is there more to him than meets the eye (very unlikely)? Also, the truth is finally shown. Jeremie Belpois doesn't want his friends to come to make right his wrong or even to attempt to be friends with them again. He wants them to come back so that he can use them to protect Kaiyo.

…I don't think that Jeremie is a very nice guy. Everybody and everything exists to him only in the view of how it will benefit him. What kind of a hero and leader is that? How can the Lyoko Warriors ever succeed when Jeremie cares for his desires more than his friends? Though he has smaller goals of what he wants to take out of life, is it possible that Jeremie and Xana aren't as different as the two of them might want to think?

(Please read and review)


	18. Epi 3, Chpt 5: Willow Arkansas

Alright. Now we shall leave Jeremie for a moment, and head back to the mysterious Willow. Picking up where we last saw her from.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Chapter #5: Willow Arkansas**

Willow simply watched them go, before muttering to herself. "Jeremie…He knows nothing. Didn't even blink when he saw my medallion. William, have to investigate that deeper. Jim though, dear, dear Jim, he seemed startled by it, even though he saw it many times a couple of years ago. Have to find out why the sudden reaction change." Then, making a mental note, she turned and slipped back into the crowd.

Willow frowned as she glanced around at the people surrounding her. Fools. All of them were fools. What did they think this place was, huh? Who comes to a school with a giant grin on their face? Idiots…only idiots. _Note to self: All Kadic Academy students are idiots._ Not that she wanted to make any friends. That's why she'd spoken with Principal Delmas and was going to be one of the few students who didn't have a roommate.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

A dark room, two figures sitting together in front of a hard wooden table. One was a young girl, no older than eight, and the other was clouded in darkness so that he couldn't be seen.

"Friends are nothing but phony lies. Don't believe anything anybody ever tells you. Everybody has dark secrets they want hidden, and the only thing they want is what benefits them. You, you're just going to be a toy that they can show around. 'Look at this genius little girl.' 'She's incredibly smart.' 'Why can't you be more like Willow?'" The man spoke, and his voice deep and corrupt, yet also full of undeniable affection.

"But, Father…" Willow protested. "I don't understand. Isn't that good? Aren't those compliments?"

"_Compliments!_ Willow!" the man spoke, shaking his head in frustration. "Bah! Has no one ever told you? Compliments are nothing but lies. They want ooh's and aah's. They want to show you off, as if they had something to do with your intelligence. They want to use you as a toy to make themselves look better!

"The world is a cruel and dark place. In it, nobody can be trusted. Everybody wants to use everybody else to get ahead. Friends…Bah! They're nothing but back-stabbers. They want to get ahold of you and use you until they can no longer benefit from your company. Then they'll either throw you out or kill you. Never lower your guard, Willow!"

"Never…" Willow whispered to herself quietly. "But… I can trust you."

"Yes, but only because I am being fully honest with you," the man replied. "I'm not trying to send you into the world as a tool for me. After all, our agreement is that you never mention me to anyone."

"Blood poisons the soul," six year old Willow said. "Family is evil too."

"Yes, indeed they are," the man replied. "Yours is a perfect example of what I am saying. They used you until you were of no more use, and then they threw you out. I will never do that, Willow. Never! You and me, we're a true family, not connected by blood but by being the only people who truly understand what the world is like. Nothing shall ever change that."  
"Yes, Father," Willow said, nodding her head. "I'm ready." The man smiled and reached out and placed a medallion around Willow's neck. It was in the shape of two circles, one inside of the other, with three rectangles branching out of the outsides.

"Wear this at all times, Willow," the man said, smiling, "and I will always be nearby in case of trouble."

Willow ran her hand up and down the beautiful black medallion and smiled. "It's pretty," she said, "but what is it?"

"Xana," the man said, a cruel and sneering smile came on his face as he said the word. "It's the symbol of Xana. Come, my daughter." Then he took her hand, and helped her to her feet.

"Where are we going?" Willow asked, glancing around at the candle-lit room again. "You've always been here."

"It's time to begin," the man said. "We're going to Paris, France."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Willow?" the voice brought Willow out of her thoughts and found herself standing alone, staring up at an older, balding man. She quickly glanced around and realized that she was the only one standing in the parking lot.

The man in front of her was probably about 6'0". He wore dark brown pants and a sweater vest with an interesting diamond pattern across the near bottom. He wore a really fancy jacket over the vest. He also had a grey beard and some really old looking glasses.

"Principal Delmas," Willow said, smiling up at him. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"Willow Arkansas," Prinicpal Delmas said. "It is indeed. I must say that when I heard you were coming here it took me by complete surprise. Your last trip here must have struck you as a rather hard time. Orientation is beginning in a few minutes, but I needed to tell you something."

"Yes," Willow asked, curiously. _Important: Remember this_. Willow thought to herself.

"We had a lot of last minute students who signed up for our school these last few weeks. I'm afraid that you won't be able to have a room all to yourself. I've tried to call you about this many times, but…"

"But our phones didn't work," Willow said with a sigh. _Great, a roommate. _Shaking her head, she said, "Thanks for letting me know." Then she turned and walked towards her room. "A roommate! Great. Thanks, Father…" she muttered to herself sarcastically. "Boarding school was a great idea. Don't worry; you'll have a room all to yourself. Stupid, stupid, stupid."

Determined to keep her cool, Willow forced a smile back onto her face. Things though, were not shaping up the way that they were supposed to be. Suddenly, the one friend she'd ever dared to make might turn out to be just like her Father had described. He would turn against her someday, of that she was pretty much positive. The medallion. He knew what it meant. She'd bumped into Jeremie Belpois and he hadn't known what the medallion was. How was that possible? He was one of the only two names mentioned. Odd Della Robbia and Jeremie Belpois. Now, to make her day even worse, she was discovering that she had to share her room with some stupid Kadic Academy student. How was she supposed to do her work with some idiot staring over her shoulder the whole time?

So, wincing in her mind about having to meet her roommate, she began to make her way up the stairs to the third floor. Then, she walked down the hallway to her room, 324, and knocked on the door. The door opened, and a girl looked out and her with a smile. "Hi," the girl said, reaching out and shaking Willow's hand. "You must be Willow. It's so nice to meet you!"

Willow looked down at her hand for a second, completely puzzled. Sure, she'd come from America, so she was used to this kind of greeting, but she had not expected for it to happen while she was at Kadic Academy. She looked up at the girl and took her in. However this girl was, she was obsessed with pink and purple. That was the first thought Willow observed as she looked at the girl.

She wore a pink sweater-like mini-jacket, a purple T-shirt with flowers and hearts all over it, and a lavender colored skirt. On her feet were pink cowboy-type boots. Her eyes were blue like the sea and her hair was a dark brown color like trees in autumn. Her size was about the same as Willow's, despite the fact that this girl seemed to be almost three years older than Willow was.

_Her face is kind, innocent. She's older, though. Strange. Powerful. Innocence yet filled with experience. Whoever she is, she's seen many ways of life and yet remained innocent. Whoever she is, she looks like she is very familiar for some odd reason. I just can't put my finger on why. _"Who are you?" Willow asked, her eyebrows raised.

"Names Violet Griffin," the girl replied. "Come in. I'll help you take care of your stuff."

"Violet Griffin!" Willow said. Her eyes widened as she realized who was standing in front of her. "You're that nation-wide pop sensation?"

Violet's smile instantly died, and she lowered her head sadly. "H…How do you know about me? I thought that France would be far enough away…"

"Oh," Willow said. "I'm from America, so…"

Violet's eyes regained a hopeful look. "Please, promise me you won't tell anyone."

"Ok," Willow replied awkwardly. "May I ask why?"

"I'm trying to live a normal life now," Violet replied. "I've had enough of the screaming fans running at me from all directions, of the constant concerts, of all that stuff. I may be seventeen now, but I still dream of having a normal life. So I came here, hoping that an out of the way place like this would be able to give me that."

"Intriguing," Willow said with a smile. "So, you're trying to have a secret identity? I can help with that if you want, but I'd recommend that you at least start with changing your name…"

"I can't do that," Violet replied. "It's my name. I don't want to live my entire life under a different name. I want mine."

"Then we'll have to die your hair, and do some other really difficult things," Willow said, "but we can do it. Just leave it up to me. Nobody will ever recognize you." She smiled as she stepped into the room. _Note: My actions are going to kill her dreams. She can't have a normal life here, especially when I am her roommate. The least I can do is be as kind to her as I can._

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

There. That shall be the conclusion of Episode 3. Next I shall write Episode 4, where the Lyoko Warriors finally begin to make their appearance. Please read and review.


	19. Epi 3, Chpt 6: Mixed Emotions

Alright, I apologize for the false information given in the former episode. The Lyoko Warriors will begin to make their appearances in episode 4, but episode 3 is not quite done yet. It still has this chapter, and the one following it. Then episode 3 will be done.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Chapter #6: Mixed Emotions**

Dead-end. How many times had he experienced that very sensation in the last five years? Silently, he stared forward at the run-down house that had once been the happy home of the Ishiyamas. It wasn't fair! Of all the people in the world who would have long and happy lives, the Ishiyamas were at the top of that list. They'd already suffered so much over the years... Jeremie's face darkened in anger.

Suddenly, he was brought back to reality by the feeling of a hand placed onto his shoulder. "What are you thinking about, my love?" Kaiyo whispered gently. This was the most intimate type of embrace that the two shared. After that day, long ago, when he had pushed Aelita's head off of his shoulder before the others had rejected him, that gesture had never contained anything but torture and depression for him. Instead, Kaiyo would simply place her hand on his shoulder, a gesture to show that she loved him and was there for him.

"About what I should do next," Jeremie replied quietly. "I had all my hopes pinned on talking to Yumi. I was hoping that she might…might…might be able to tell me where I could find Ulrich. Ulrich, I'm sure could tell me where to find Odd…" He sighed and said, "but now…I don't know what to do anymore."

"You could always tell me what is going on," Kaiyo said comfortingly. "You can trust me, Jeremie. Please, let me know what's wrong."

"No, Kaiyo," Jeremie said quietly. "I made a promise long ago that I would never reveal this secret…Keeping that promise is the least I can do for them." In truth though, he didn't stress his darkest fear, the reason he would never confess to Kaiyo the truth of the supercomputer. He knew that she would stop at nothing to make peace with Xana. That would result in one of two things, either her death or her success. Jeremie wasn't willing to accept either. After everything that Xana had done and caused Jeremie to do, Jeremie wanted nothing more than to crush him and make him pay.

"Let's go," Jeremie said turning to leave, but Kaiyo's next words stopped him in his tracks.

Looking up at the ruined house, tears in her eyes, Kaiyo whispered, "I could have saved them."

"No, you couldn't," Jeremie said, turning around and walking back over to her. "Kaiyo, you're not a doctor, and even people who have trained to be for years have a hard time defeating that disease…"

"But…" Kaiyo protested as the tears began to fall.

Jeremie reached forward and took her hand. As he did, he was reminded again of something he had always pondered about her. Despite how much despair and darkness was thrown into his life, Kaiyo always took it hard. Unlike him, she had never been able to accept that it was just a natural part of life.

"People die, Kaiyo. It happens. As unfair as it may seem, some people just die. There's nothing that you could have done about it. In matters like this, even the greatest minds are often useless. Disease is something that we cannot control. We couldn't…couldn't have changed their fate, Kaiyo. You need to accept that. Please."

"Accept it! Jeremie, someone's just died here…"

"Kaiyo, they've been dead for two years," Jeremie replied. "Two long years… It didn't just happen. This is nothing more than an abandoned ghost house, full of abandoned memories. Come on. Let's get back to Kadic.

With a sad sigh, Kaiyo let Jeremie lead her silently away from the tragic scene, another clue to Jeremie that his old life was truly dead. There was no going back, and that house had shown this undeniable truth in a clearer light than he had ever been faced with before. The old man's words reverberated in his head. "This house will just sit here and rot, empty and abandoned." Without Kaiyo, Jeremie knew, the same thing would have happened to him.

The two slowly made their way back to Kadic in silence. A mournful chill seemed to permeate through the air. Although it was still morning, the clouds  
had blocked out the sun, and the world felt cold. Jeremie and Kaiyo walked close together, hands held. At the moment, although they could still feel and take some comfort from each other's" presences, they were lost in their own dark thoughts.

Then, as they reached Kadic Academy, it began to rain. It was as if the sky itself were in mourning. However, the rain also seemed to carry a deeper meaning, a washing away of the old, and Jeremie and Kaiyo both knew that their lives would never be the same again. "We should see if we can still get to orientation on time," Kaiyo whispered to Jeremie, breaking the silence.

Jeremie nodded, and the two of them let go of each other's hands as they entered the schoolyard. Principal Delmas had spoken to Jeremie about his relationship with Kaiyo, telling Jeremie that he did not approve of teacher-students relationships. However, if Jeremie and Kaiyo were determined to continue their relationship, despite the fact that she was going to be in his class this year, neither of them was to show it while he was on school grounds. Principal Delmas didn't want to give the impression that he approved of such romances.

So, Kaiyo and Jeremie began to run towards the auditorium. As they did, Jeremie glanced down at his watch. 8:30pm. Orientation still had another hour. If him and Kaiyo slipped into the back, they should be able to trick Principal Delmas into thinking they had been there the whole time. Luck, however, was not on Jeremie's side. When they were about 30 yards from the auditorium doors, they swung open. Instantly, Kaiyo and Jeremie froze in surprise. It was only 8:40! What in the world was going on?

Students began to pour out of the door…well, pour wasn't exactly the right word. It was more ordered. The sixth grade students left first, following the sixth grade teacher. Then came the seventh grade group, the eighth grade, the ninth grade, and a sinking feeling began to fill Jeremie's gut. He was in trouble, so very much trouble. He had no idea what was going on, because whatever it was, it had never happened before. The tenth grade students came out. Then came the twelfth, and Jeremie swallowed, his entire face turning pale.

He rushed towards the door, Kaiyo beside him. However, as he reached it, Jim came walking out, followed by the eleventh grade students. Freezing he watched as the students walked by him, but his eyes locked on the last student to leave the building, Willow Arkansas. His pale look of horror was instantly replaced by a look of hatred. Whoever this Willow was, her kindness was nothing more than an act, he was sure of it. His eyes were locked on the girl's medallion.

Slipping forward next to Jim, Jeremie whispered, "Jim, what's going on? You're not a grade teacher…Why are you with these kids?"

"These kids, Jeremie, as I'm sure you know, are the eleventh graders," Jim said with a frown. "Since you neglected to show up today, I was instructed to do the practices with them instead.

"Practices?" Jeremie asked, totally bewildered. "What practices? I've never of them before! And what in the world is Willow Arkansas doing in this group, huh?" As he asked the second question, his eyes hardened.

Willow Arkansas. At the mention of her name, the girl turned and looked directly at Jeremie. A shiver ran down his spine and he instantly fell silent. Something about the girl wasn't right, and he could see the look of absolute, total hatred on her face. She completely and totally despised him, and was telling him so. Then, just as quickly as she'd turned to him, she turned away and her face became the normal teenage face that she usually wore. Jeremie, however, now knew that he was right. This girl was evil.

Jim frowned, and his eyes filled with an angry fire, the same fire that they'd had right before the two had ended up in a brawl. "If you had been at the orientation, as I told you to be, then you would know. Now, Jeremie, if you will excuse me, I need to go and do the work that was supposed to be yours!" Then he turned his face away from Jeremie and continued to walk.

Jeremie clenched his fists in anger, glaring at the little girl that had shown up to mess his life up. He wanted nothing more than to tear the little brat limb from limb. His angry though, he knew, could only be brought down upon one person, XANA. That was why XANA had been so important. He'd been able to keep peace with most people, because he'd taken all of his frustration on them and given it to XANA. The computer program had been his punching bag, and once it disappeared, all of his anger had just bottled up inside, until… _William_. The thought nearly knocked him over.

If there was one regret that he'd never been able to dismiss, it was William. Even if everybody else came back and the Lyoko Warriors were reinstated, he'd never be able to live down what he'd done to William. There was no way he could be friends with any of the people he'd one considered friends. No, he didn't deserve it, and as far down as they might try to hide it, they would always know that. There was no way that they could ever, ever, be friends again. There was no going back. All he had now was Kaiyo and his home, Kadic Academy.

"Jeremie!" Jim said, pausing and turning to look back at Jeremie again. The anger on his face was somewhat obscured by a look of worry and apprehension. "When you didn't show up at the orientation, well… understandably Delmas was not pleased. He told me that when I saw you next, I was to inform you that he wished to speak with you in his office. I did try to warn you…" He shook his head sadly and turned back to his group. Jeremie just stared after them in silence as they disappeared. He wasn't sure if it was his imagination, but it appeared as though Willow had glanced back at him and given him an evil grin.

A fear, now becoming quite strong, was flowing through Jeremie's veins as he made his way towards Principal Delmas's office. It was as if XANA had somehow manipulated everything from the moment that he appeared that morning. Ever since then, things had been going from bad to worse. "I didn't have any choice," Jeremie was like argued to himself as he walked. "There was no time to lose…I had to go right then." But the sinking feeling was back, and worse than ever. It had been reckless and stupid, a total waste of time. Yumi wasn't even there anymore.

If he lost his job now, his life would be nothing more than garbage that had been thrown away. He'd poured every penny that he had ever made into Kaiyo and supercomputer upgrades. He had nothing left. If he lost his job, he'd be out on the streets. Nobody would hire some idiot who hadn't even been able to finish high school. He would end up being some homeless man scrounging around and begging for food, maybe even turning into a thief. There was no way he'd ever be able to live a life like that. This was, very much, the end of the rope for him.

It was like he wasn't really awake, as though his life had been replaced with a nightmare that was rapidly drawing to a close. First, XANA, his long-dead and hated enemy had risen from the dead. Second, this mysterious and dark girl named Willow Arkansas had shown up to drive a wedge into his relationship with Jim. Third, the Ishiyamas were dead, and Yumi was missing, leaving him clueless as to how he was going to get back in contact with the Lyoko Warriors. Fourth, this mysterious and evil girl was apparently in his class, and he'd made Jim very angry with him. Now he was at the climax of the nightmare.

Everything had led up to this moment. He could deal with everything else; he had control over how it affected him. This next part though, he had no control over. When he entered the office, he was putting his life in the hands of somebody else. That was something he'd always hated. For the first time in many years, since returning to Kadic with the news that William was dead, Jeremie Belpois was terrified.

As he reached the door to Principal Delmas's office, he swallowed hard and knocked. His eyes were red, although he hadn't been crying. It was as if all of the weight of the world was sitting on his shoulder. What he'd done was shameful, and he knew he deserved to be fired. Why, why hadn't he gone to orientation? The door in front of him creaked open slowly and Jeremie stared up into the frowning face of Principal Delmas.

"I'm sorry, sir…," Jeremie began lowering his head in shame. "What I did was unforgivable…" He paused and looked up at Principal Delmas in apprehension. The man's face was red, and the look that he had originally taken for anger was more of a serious depression. In his hands, he held a picture frame. It was turned away so that Jeremie couldn't see what it was, but he already knew. "Sir…?" he asked as he drew closer, his voice kind and caring. "We're you crying?"

"Jeremie?" Principal Delmas replied quietly, glancing up at his young friend. "Would you call me a good principal?"

Jeremie was taken aback. He'd been preparing himself for Delmas's righteous anger and the punishment that would surely come as a result. He knew Delmas, and that was the sort of man he was. This…This question didn't belong to the Delmas that he knew. "Of course, sir," He replied, his voice full of concern. "Why would you even ask a question like that?"

"I've been neglectful l, acting shamefully and selfishly," Principal Delmas said quietly. "I've just been sitting here, quiet, thinking my own selfish thoughts, while Kadic Academy rotted around me."

"Not so, sir!" Jeremie said emphatically. His voice was full of determination and pride. "You should have been there this morning. The people came flocking off the buses and rushing into the school. They were overjoyed to be returning to this place. Kadic Academy is a wonderful place to be."

"Even Sissie…" Principal Delmas continued, as though Jeremie had never even spoken. "This place used to be so full of joy and laughter…"

"It still is!" Jeremie interrupted, determined to make Principal Delmas listen to him. "This place is wonderful. All those kids…"

"have forgotten what a rundown, depressing, dark place this is," Principal Delmas said, his voice full of misery and discouragement. "I'm not worthy to work here anymore. Maybe I should just retire and let someone better take my place…"

Jeremie's mouth nearly dropped open in shock. Kadic Academy without Jean-Pierre Delmas? "No," he said emphatically and with a look of serious determination in his eyes. "You can't just quit and leave us. Me and Jim depend on you. You're the one who helps us up when we fall. You don't get it, sir. They will never, ever, be able to find a principal who cares as much about his students as you do.

He stood up and walked over to Principal Delmas, setting his hand on the man's shoulder and looking at him with a smile. "You see, sir, even the way that you are acting now shows how deeply you care about the students here. You're thinking about leaving the one place that feels like home to you, simply because you think that it will be better for the students. Trust me when I tell you that it won't be."

"It's hard to find a principal that cares deeply about his students. You do, and to a degree that I find amazing. I'm behind you, for better or worse, sir. I can guarantee you that everybody else is as well."

"Thank you, Jeremie," Delmas said, looking up into Jeremie's face for the first time. "I wish I could share your enthusiasm, but I can't really believe it. Kadic Academy would be better off without me here to darken it." Then he placed his picture back up on his desk. It was a picture of his daughter, Elizabeth "Sissie" Delmas at the age of sixteen, right before…

"Why weren't you at Orientation today," Principal Delmas asked, pulling Jeremie's mind back to reality. It wasn't an angry question. It sounded more confused, inquiring. It was almost as if Principal Delmas had suddenly remembered why Jeremie was in his office, but was no longer angry with him.

"I was digging into my past," Jeremie said quietly. "I headed out to Yumi's house, and found out that…that…"

"The tragedy…" Principal Delmas replied, his voice full of concern. "You never heard about that?"

"No," Jeremie said quietly. "I didn't. I lost track of time while I was there… I am sorry, sir."

Principal Delmas shook his head and said, "Don't worry about it. If I'd known what you were going through, I would have been ok with it. I just wish that you had told me before you left."

Jeremie looked up at the picture of Sissie again, and shook his head. He'd always had a low opinion of her, but he'd never guessed she'd sink that low. Even now, some seven years later, it was hard for him to accept. It had hit her father even worse though, and had caused Jeremie to hate her with a passion. Sissie Delmas was nothing more or less than a self-absorbed monster.

Looking back at Delmas's miserable and upset face, he said, "Tomorrow."

"What?" Principal Delmas asked in confusion, looking back up at Jeremie. "Tomorrow what?"

"I'll remind you of why you became a principal in the first place," Jeremie said with a smile. "You've spent too much of your life dwelling on the past, and now it is time for you to start living again. Stop living in the past and start living in the present. There is an entire school out there that needs the love of a principal like you. Tomorrow, I will show you what I mean." Then, before Delmas could respond, Jeremie had stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.

Smiling, he turned and began to make his way towards the house and he had shared with Jim ever since he had first arrived at Kadic Academy. The meeting with Delmas had turned out better than he had hoped to imagine, and he felt somewhat free, as though he had been given a second chance at life. So, he'd decided to do the same for Delmas. He'd done nothing wrong, and he needed to start living again. There was just one more thing that he needed to do in order to repair the horrible effects of the nightmare that had been thrown at him. He needed to mend things up with Jim.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Jeremie Belpois is a rather confusing character, a selfish and plotting man. However, does he actually have a sense of emotion or does he just feel more comfortable having Principal Delmas in charge? Were his actions in this chapter motivated by kindness or selfishness?


	20. Epi 3, Chpt 7: The Exercises

**I want to start by doing two things. The first is something that I have been neglecting to do for a while. I want to thanks Hawkcam1996, fraz hopper, MoonlitxAngel, Hinata28h, PenguinWarrior88, GrassBlade-Chan, PheonixWing1110, -Breanna-Higurashi-, DestinyCullenPL, Teen-Lyokofan7777, Lavender Frostflower, Shadow arcana, and AwesomeFanFictionAuthor for reviewing on my story over the last couple of months. I feel guilty for not doing this before, because your reviews really do mean a lot to me.**

I also want to apologize to all of you for having not posted in such a long time. School and such has been keeping me somewhat busy. But here it is at last. So, without further ado, I present to you the final episode of Episode 3!

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Chapter #7: The Exercises**

Willow stared at the troubled face of Jeremie Belpois until he disappeared from view. _Idiot_" she thought to herself with a roll of the eyes. _He's shocked to be getting in trouble for the disrespect that he showed all of us._ However, the thing that she couldn't shake from her mind was the question of where he had gone. If everything that Jim had told her about that man was true, then he was no idiot. He wouldn't risk his job for anything, unless he believed it to be of utmost importance. So what had caused him to be late for Orientation?

Her eyes drifted to Kaiyo, the girl that she had seen slip into the group while Jeremie and Jim had been fight. _Note to Self: Find out who this girl is, and how she is connected to Jeremie Belpois._ As much as she hated to admit it, her old note was bothering her. It didn't seem to make any sense…

Taking notes had always been a hobby that she had loved and enjoyed. It was a way of looking at life through a different pair of lenses than usual. They were unbiased and based entirely upon what she was observing around her at the moment. They were unaffected by what she wanted to believe or what she wanted to find out. She made notes, and then looked back on them afterwards. She'd compare and contrast, dig out the truths of the people around her and figure out what they were truly like. It was all about reading character.

The note that she had made at the beginning of the day had to stand for the present. Jeremie hadn't reacted in the slightest when he saw her medallion. From that she had to conclude that he didn't know anything. She'd keep her eye on him though, because if he were hiding something, he'd slip up at some time. Everybody did, and when that happened, she'd be able to toss out her first note. However, it was a rule of hers that when she took her notes about people, the first observation had to be unbiased.

However, Jeremie Belpois was the only tie-in. The woman had mentioned Jeremie by name, him and one Odd Della Robbia. However, this Della Robbia person was nowhere to be seen, likely graduating some five years before. Luck had been on her side, though, because Jeremie Belpois had returned. Also, Kadic Academy was key. It wasn't known how or why, but they'd both assumed it was the reason that Jeremie had returned the school. His blank face… how she wanted to shake it until he spit out what he knew…

"Willow, are you all right?" Violet asked in concern as she stared at her roommate. Willow's hands were held together in a choking manner, and she was acting as though she wanted to strangle someone.

Instantly, Willow's eyes popped open, and she was back in reality. "Yeah, Vi. I'm fine… Just thinking is all."

Vi. It was the name that Violet had agreed to go by while at Kadic. It wasn't really a change of name, but Willow had insisted that she at least start going by that. In appearance, she no longer resembled the famous Pop Star from America. Her eyes were now a beautiful light violet color, and this bizarre color seemed to make her beauty stand out more than it ever had before. It gave her an almost otherworldly appearance, a beauty that didn't seem like it could have come from earth. Her hair had been dyed a dirty-blond color, and despite Vi's musings, had been cut short.

"Let it grow back again once people have gotten accustomed to you, and it shouldn't cause a problem" Willow had told her, "but unless you are willing to follow my advice perfectly, you will be recognized." And so, Vi's beautiful long hair had been cut and then dyed. Then, with a cream that gave the skin a slight tint, of which color it was difficult to tell, and a change of wardrobe, the masterpiece had been complete. Violet the Pop Star was gone, and Vi, the beautiful Kadic Academy student, was ready to begin her new life.

Vi smiled and said, "You know, Willow, I really owe you one. If I hadn't met you, then all of this would have been for nothing. Than…"

Willow held up her hand and Vi paused in confusion. "Vi, don't thank me," Willow said, shaking her head. Then she added, "If there is one thing in this world I do not like to receive, it is a thank you."

Vi paused and looked at Willow with a raised eyebrow. "What's wrong with giving thanks?" As she asked the question, she chuckled, certain that Willow was joking.

"I really don't like it," Willow said firmly, her face serious. "Please, just don't do it, ok Vi?"

"Sure…" Vi said, taken aback by Willow's strange request. She eyed her roommate now with a new curiousness as she realized that she was not the only person to have secrets. What in the world was Willow here hiding behind her mask? What could possibly be wrong with thanking her?

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Jim frowned as he led the group towards a small area of Kadic that had been abandoned many years earlier, due to the fact that the attendance of the school had shrunken since its early days. There was a small hill with a tree at the top, a willow tree. Jim motioned for his small group to sit around him on the grass before turning and surveying them.

Willow, however, didn't sit. Instead, she leaned back against the tree. The others, however, did as they were told. "All right," Jim said, rubbing his hands together with a smile. "I'd like to introduce myself to you. I am Jim Morales, and I've taught here for twenty-eight years now-"

"Do we have to listen to this?" one of the boys interrupted with a frown. "I've got better things to do, you know."

"You're principal set up these meetings as a requirement…" Jim trailed off, implying that he wanted the boy to say his name, but the boy was silent. "What is your name?" Jim asked with a frown.

"Seth Harris," the boy said, rolling his eyes impatiently. "So how long is this going to take anyway?"

"A long time if you don't be quiet," Jim said. "Now, since this group has been put together as a kind of… boding… thing… I think that we should start by standing up and saying something about ourselves. We'll start with you," he said, motioning to Willow.

Across the yard, wandering and talking were two new students to Kadic. They had arrived late and had thus missed the instructions that were given at the meeting.

One looked to be about sixteen, and was muscular. His eyes were green and his hair was brown. He stood at about five foot eight. For his outfit, he wore a v-neck shirt, black with a moon on it, and blue jeans that weren't worn or torn in the slightest.

The other wore a completely black sweatshirt with short grey sleeves. He wore jeans that were torn on the knees. His shoes were black, and on his forehead was a black bandanna. He was thin, svelte, but he was also strong. He looked like the sort of person who would always win in a fist fight, and it looked like he'd had a lot of experience with that kind of thing. He even had a scar, hidden by his hair. The third finger on his **right** hand looked like it had been torn apart and then restitched. Although it looked like a perfectly normal finger in most regards, it had a lot of scars where the finger had been put together again.

In the first kid's hand, he held a pen and a pocket notebook. The second one held a clarinet case. "So this is Kadic," the second one said with a curious look as he surveyed the buildings. "Cool. And you've been here how many years exactly, Chris?"

Chris smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "Since fifth grade, five years in all..." He trailed off and his hand grasped onto Caleb's firmly. "She was so not here last year," He said haltingly, pointing his finger in the direction of the 11th graders.

Caleb turned and a curious look crossed his face. "I don't think she's older than fourteen," he said. "What's she doing with those 11th graders?" Let's go check it out." So Chris and Caleb approached the group.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Willow stood up and glanced over at the spot where Chris and Caleb were approaching with a frown. Apparently she was not the only one interested in spying on people. Then she turned and surveyed the eleventh grade class, with a half-hearted smile on her lips. She didn't give the appearance of being mean or a grump. She simply seemed, cool.  
_Right… What exactly am I supposed to say to all of these idiots?_ she thought with a frown."It is a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Willow Arkansas. I come from America and was here as a transfer three years ago." Then she leaned back against the tree again, silent.

"I think you're supposed to say more than that," one of the students whispered to Willow. "Like, try telling them one of your favorite things or something."

"Oh, right," Willow said, standing back up. "One thing you should definitely know about me is that I hate to be thanked, so please don't do it." Then she leaned back again with a smile. The rest of the class simply stared at her.

"Alright…" Jim said, not quite sure how to respond to that statement. "Who's next?" 

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

"Willow…" Chris whispered the name to himself with a smile as he looked at the girl leaning against the tree. "So that is her name…"

"What do you suppose she meant about the thank you…" Caleb trailed off. "Um, Chris? Why are you grinning like that?" Then he glanced down at Willow and back at Chris. "No way… You did not just…"

"Yeah…" Chris said, staring down at Willow dreamily. "I think I did."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

The rest of the day went by without a hitch. Except for the occasional smart-alek response from Seth, everything was perfect. Willow and Vi spent the whole time whispering back and forth to each other. The other kids mingled in and out of groups. Seth was the only one who remained alone, but despite whatever Jim did, Seth refused to be a part of the group.

However, after everything was finished, the eleventh graders thanked Jim for giving them such a fun time and headed off to their dorms. It was then that Jim's mind drifted back to Jeremie and XANA. Jumping to his feet, he dashed for home, determined to ask Jeremie what he had found out while the meeting had been going on, and more importantly, what had happened between him and Delmas.

However, when he got there, he found Jeremie sitting on the porch with a troubled look on his face. "What is it?" Jim asked, coming to a stop next to Jeremie.

Jeremie looked up quietly and said, "The Ishiyamas are dead."

Jim's eyes widened. "When?" he asked with a frown.

"Two years ago," Jeremie said, his voice showing his deep meditation. "Yumi apparently didn't die with the rest of them, but she's disappeared. As for the others, I'm searching, but I have little idea of where to look." His mind drifted to Kaiyo, his smiling angel. "But I promise you, I will succeed! I will find them."

"And I suggest you do it fast," Jim said. "We don't know what XANA is capable of anymore, not after you added all of that stuff to the supercomputer. If he is capable of destroying Muisaya Hiyim and his army…" He trailed off. "Did you hear how it ended?"

"No," Jeremie said, shaking his head in hopes to get it clear enough to concentrate on what Jim would tell him. "What did I miss after I left."

"Two very important things. The first is that the man with the power of a small god was actually killed. He was beheaded by Muisaya-"

"-explaining why the tower deactivated," Jeremie interrupted, nodding his head. "Although I never really thought that those things were killable… We might want to consider asking Muisaya to join the Lyoko Warriors."

"You can't," Jim said, his face grave. "Nobody is exactly sure how yet, but Muisaya Hiyim is dead."

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Thank you to all who have stuck with me so faithfully. So, we end episode three with Jeremie learning that Muisaya Hiyim is dead and with the introduction of three new characters. What role will these three new people play in the story of Kadic Academy? What is up with Chris? Why is Caleb dressed so weird? Why doesn't Willow like to be thanked? And who is this Seth?

I also want to add that the next Lyoko Warriors will make his appearance in the next chapter. So for all of you who have been waiting for their return, the time has finally arrived.

Please review. As I said above, your reviews mean a lot to me. It helps me to understand how many people are actually enjoying my story. So, even if all you have to say is "good story", please review if you enjoyed this. Thanks.

3


	21. Epi 4, Chpt 1: The Ninja Warrior

I want to apologize to all of the people who were once faithfully reading my story for my inhumanly long silence. I'm not sure if I have any fans let, but I wanted to apologize to any that I may still have. I was going through a life-crisis, and now that it is over, I am going to start posting my story again for those who want to read it.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Episode #4: The New Lyoko**

**Chapter #1: The Ninja Warrior**

Dark. Cold. Eerie. These were the only words that could describe the room. In the center of it, a brown haired, lanky young man sat. A sole candle sat on a desk in front of him, casting shadows across the man's face, while still hiding most of it in darkness. His face was filled malice, and his eyes were calculating and cold. The very way he held himself was threatening.

The desk in front of him was covered in pictures of Muisaya Hiyim, all of which had been violently torn to pieces. The only one that wasn't torn was clenched in a death-like grip in the man's hands. "Curse you, Muisaya," the man swore darkly under his breath. "You will pay for your crimes. I promise you this. Someday, you will pay, and when that day comes, I will be there to see it."

Then the man lifted the picture up and held it over the flame of the candle. It crinkled and burned, and a burning smell filled the room. He kept it there until it had been totally and only the ashes were left, lying on the table. "You will pay."

His rantings were brought to a stop by the sound of a knock on the door. "Sir?" came a voice with a strong Japanese accent. "It is Hoku Karisma. I have some news that I am certain you want to hear." The man quickly stood to his feet, and pushed all of the pictures and ashes into a trash can. Then he turned on the lights, and it was as if his dark interior disappeared. It could be still be seen, hidden deep within his eyes, but he no longer seemed quite as intimidating.

"Come in!" the man called to Hoku, his voice not cheerful, but not angry or dark either. The door opened and a tall, sturdy, well-built Japanese man walked into the room. "Welcome my friend. What news do you wish to share with me?"

"Well, Ninja Warrior," Hoku said with a bow of his head to show respect. "I know where Muisaya Hiyim and her band of warriors are located."

The Ninja Warrior instantly froze, the dark interior instantly bursting back to the surface. It was so sudden and strong that Hoku stepped back, although it was obvious from the look on his face, that he was quite used to The Ninja Warrior looking like this. "Do tell," he said through clenched teeth. "How can you possibly know where Muisaya is, when all of the experts of Japan cannot find him?

"The final video showed a different aspect and version of her hideout than any of the other ones. Probably because they didn't have the preparation they usually do, what with being attacked by General Dakota out of the blue…"

The Ninja Warrior's eyes raised. "So they did find him after all? The army found Muisaya?"

"No. That's the strange thing. Only the general attacked. He was by himself, and nobody came to help him," Hoku said. "But, the point is, Muisaya Hiyim had them record at a different angle, and I recognized that place. When I was little, I enjoyed travelling through the woods that my family owned. It was a vast several hundred acres, mostly of forest. On the tape I recognized a carving that I myself had made in one of those trees." Hoku paused, waiting for The Ninja Warrior's response. However, the man said nothing.

"It's really not all that far from here," Hoku continued. "If we were to leave immediately, I'm sure we could get there in about half an hour. Muisaya and his rebel army would not be prepared for you, not after having just dealt with General Dakota. Let's go." He motioned excitedly towards the door.

"No," The Ninja Warrior said simply.

Hoku blinked in surprise, too stunned for words. "N…N…N…No?" He stammered, absolutely and completely bewildered. "But Ninja Warrior, Sir, whyever not?" He then motioned to the garbage can into which all of the papers had been thrown away. "I mean, you've been dreaming of this day for years…"

"Don't get me wrong," The Ninja Warrior said, glancing over at Hoku. "There is nothing in the world that I would love to do as much as tear Muisaya Hiyim apart with my bare hands. However, that is sadly not why I have travelled all the way here."

"Of course not, Sir," Hoku said with a nod of his head. "There was no way for you to know that the hideout would be discovered while you were here. However, since it has been, don't you think that is a little bit more important than your competition? I mean, you are never going to get this chance again. Are you sure that you want to pass it up?"

"Even for me, the trip to Japan was expensive, and I cannot afford to simply throw away that much money," The Ninja Warrior replied. "I can deal with Muisaya after the competition tomorrow. However, I know what you're going to say. That would be too late. So I want you to go there, if you will. I want you to figure out who Muisaya really is, and what he is going to do next. If we know both of those things, bringing Muisaya Hiyim down will be the easiest and most pleasurable thing in the world."

Hoku grinned at the thought. "Take him down when he is at the most vulnerable, huh?" He chuckled darkly and his grin became somewhat curved, giving a creepy look. "I like it. But Sir, are you absolutely certain that you don't want to do this deception yourself?"

"Hoku," The Ninja Warrior said as he stood to his feet and walked over to the door. "I have committed myself to a competition. I, Ulrich Stern, _never_ back down from a competition." Then he turned and exited the room.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Hoku pushed himself through the crowd of rebels. They were jammed together into a large crowd, yet there mood was nothing less than dismal. They were weeping and mourning. Every single one of them appeared to be fighting to hold back tears. He had been right about where they were located, and it had taken him all of thirty minutes to get there. As he stood there now, he couldn't help but feel pleased with himself.

_The Ninja Warrior will be quite pleased_, Hoku thought proudly. _But… what in the world is going on here? _As he slowly made his way through the crowd, he found himself staring at a man holding a large broadcasting camera. As he recorded, tears were streaming down his face. _I don't get_ _it… Muisaya Hiyim has finally killed General Dakota. Why in the world is the mood not more uplifting?_

Hoku turned to look in the direction of the broadcasting camera and instantly blanched. In front of him was a coffin with a badly burned body inside. A new gravestone had been planted into the ground, and a grave had been dug to bury the person. On it were carved the words:

R.I.P

Muisaya Hiyim

1990 – 2014

A great leader, inspiration, and friend

Gave his life in order to save his comrades

Hail Muisaya Hiyim!

Hoku could have been knocked over by the wind. His body became as rigid as a block of ice. He simply stared blankly at the gravestone, as a feeling of numbness filled every inch of his body. _Muisaya Hiyim… was… gone? That… it simply… wasn't possible…_ "But, he hasn't had a chance to get his revenge on you yet… He hasn't…" He paused and looked at the camera. Then back at the grave.

A few mournful rebels stepped forward, closed the coffin, and had it lowered slowly down into the grave. _Was it possible, _Hoku wondered hopefully. _Could it be possibly that, despite the grave and the weeping rebels, Muisaya Hiyim was still alive? Or was his final act the attempt to shock the world into action, giving his life to bring about the downfall of the Japanese dictatorship? _Confused, uncertain, and troubled, Hoku stared at the scene unfolding before him in utter silence.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

At long last, another Lyoko Warrior appears. Ulrich Stern, The Ninja Warrior. Why does he hate Muisaya Hiyim so much? What kind of competitions is he in? And what in the world is going on in Muisaya Hiyim's camp?

Please give me some reviews. Due to my long silence, I am not aware if there are any fans left. If any of you reading this are enjoying my story, please let me know. I want to know if anybody at all is enjoying this. As soon as I get a couple reviews, proof that somebody out there is still enjoying my story, I will post the next chapter.


	22. Epi 4, Chpt 2: The Underground

Happy Thanksgiving, my devoted readers! Here is the next chapter of The Lyoko Warriors. I want to thank all of the people who reviewed my last chapter. Things are progressing smoothly, and the story picks back up with Jeremie Belpois the next morning. So… I hope you like it.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

**Chapter 2: The Underground**

For Jeremie Belpois, nothing in the world was usually as perfect as the first class of a new school term. He enjoyed stunning the students with his wild and crazy ideas, making all of them realize that this would be the best school year they ever had, and were ever going to have. It was when he transformed the boring classroom setting into an amazing world filled with chatter, laughter, and fun.

Jeremie Belpois was a master at making learning fun. Anybody who had ever been in one of his classes, even if only for a day, swore that there was no teacher as great as Jeremie Belpois. However, today of all days, nobody would ever have guessed. He simply found it impossibly to concentrate.

The moment he'd believed he had finally gained control over the disaster, he'd been shown just how horribly mistaken he has was. Muisaya Hiyim, hero of Japan, the man Jeremie respected above all others, was dead. XANA had targeted him, of all people. Why? And what about Willow, that creepy girl with the XANA medallion that Jim swore was as a kind-hearted girl?

XANA's return and his frustration of not knowing where to look for his friends troubled him greatly. And in all it, he was most terrified that something might happen to Kaiyo, beautiful, sweet, loving, unprepared Kaiyo. As a result of his lack of ability to think, Jeremie droned on and on about what could be expected that year in a dull and listless tone.

Willow rolled her eyes in complete frustration, once again wondering if Jeremie Belpois was really as dull and boring as he appeared. The man had been mentioned by name though, how in the world could he possibly **not** know? _Note to self:, _she thought,_ Jeremie Belpois is totally dull and incredibly boring. _However, she was not unobservant. Several years of training made it possible to take in her surroundings without anybody even telling that she was looking around.

It was weird. Everybody in the room appeared to be puzzled. They didn't seem bored, like she would have expected. Instead, they just looked confused. Then Willow's her eyes locked on Kaiyo, and she instantly knew that something was wrong. Kaiyo's face looked troubled, a nervous frown of concern on her face. _Note to Self: Something about the way Jeremie is acting is not normal._

The next ninety minutes seemed to stretch on for several hours, but at long last, the class ended. Instantly, there was a clatter of pencils and papers as people grabbed their homework and raced out of the room. They moved in a stream, like they class was some kind of horribly dangerous plague. Kaiyo, however, didn't move, simply watching everybody race past here. Then she stood to her feet and walked over to Jeremie, setting her hand comfortingly on his shoulder. "Jeremie, Darling, whatever is the matter?" She asked, her voice full of worry. "You haven't been acting like yourself lately."

Jeremie turned and looked Kaiyo in the eyes. They stared at him filled with a mixture of love and worry. "Talk to me, Jeremie. Please," Kaiyo said. "Let me help you." Once again, Jeremie was tempted to tell Kaiyo everything, but was still too unsure of what was going on himself. He did not want Kaiyo to become a slave to the supercomputer, as he found himself. He wanted to spare her from that.

Plus, she would no doubt try to find some way to make peace with XANA, conniving some kind of crazy peace treaty agreement. If anybody could do something like that, it would be Kaiyo. However, that was something Jeremie was not willing to do. He wanted nothing more than to grind XANA into the dust and make him pay for all the trouble that he had caused. Now more than ever before. He would make XANA regret what he had done to Muisaya Hiyim, he swore it. "I'm sorry, Kaiyo," Jeremie replied, looking away from her. "That is something I simply cannot do."

"Pardon me for interrupting," a voice spoke from the shadows at the back of the classroom. Whoever it was could not be seen in the slightest, so Jeremie assumed she had to be dressed entirely in black. The voice itself was deep, gruff, and unrecognizable, obviously disguised. However, the one thing that could not be disguised was the fact that whoever was talking was female. "But I happen to have some information that I believe you will find quite useful."

Jeremie stepped forward to see who was talking to him, but suddenly stopped as the voice barked at him to stay where he was. Jeremie peered into the darkness and asked, "Who in the world are you?" He spoke with a totally bewildered expression. What kind of person was he talking to? Why in the world was she hiding in the shadows? Then another thought crossed his mind. Could this person, perhaps, be coming to tell him something about the supercomputer? Had she come to tell him why XANA had suddenly returned after being gone for so many years?

"My name is of no concern to you," the girl replied simply, and for a second the glint of light reflecting on glass could be seen as she turned her head in the darkness. She wore glasses. The fact struck Jeremie as strange. What kind of secret spy wore glasses? "I have heard that you are searching for the Ishiyama family. Is this correct?" the girl asked, though she sounded as if she somehow already knew that it was.

Jeremie's eyes widened in stunned surprise, but Kaiyo couldn't help but smile with a secretive, knowing smile. "Y…Y…yes…" Jeremie stammered, taken aback. "But how in the world could you possibly know that? Who in the world are you?" He was about to dash into the shadows and find out, when Kaiyo set her hand on his shoulder and shook her head. Sighing, Jeremie nodded.

"My secrets are my own, Belpois. And since you are likely to require my help later, I suggest that you honor that. I will also not disclose from whence the information that I have obtained came forth." There was silence for a moment, as if the girl were trying to determine whether or not what she had just said made sense. Then she continued.

"However, this I shall disclose to you. Although the ability to answer your question is not within my realm of control, I can direct you to a person who has that ability. Take this card." Suddenly, a card came flying out of the shadows and past Jeremie's head. It landed on his desk, directly on top of his pile of paperwork. "That will give you the information that you require in order to continue you quest. Good luck."

As the card flew through the air, Jeremie and Kaiyo instinctively turned to watch it. As they did so, they missed the glint of the glasses as the girl who was wearing them left the room. Jeremie reached down and picked up the card. As he did so, his eyes widened, and he raced over to the corner. Staring at the now empty shadowy area, he frowned quietly to himself. Then he looked back down at the card. His eyes were wide as he read:

"Ulrich Stern: (365) 774-3902

Sincerely,

The Underground"

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

So, questions. Who in the world is this girl? What in the world is The Underground? How does she know that Jeremie was looking for the Ishiyamas? And how does she know that Ulrich Stern and the Ishiyamas are connected?

Please send me your thoughts on the story, even if they are only "I like it." Or "I hate this." I would just really like to get some kind of feedback, so I can know how many people are reading and enjoying this story. Thanks.

Until next time, my devoted readers,

Hero of Time Freak

_(Also: Credit for "Random shadow person" goes to my awesome little 'sister')_


	23. Epi 4, Chpt 3: Dr Strange

Ok, so for any fans that I might still have, though I have probably lost most of them, due to the fact that this story hasn't been active in over a year. It is alive again though, so if anybody wants to read it, please go ahead and do so. It is waiting for you.

**Chapter 3: Dr. Strange**

Jeremie stared at the paper in stunned bewilderment for a moment, trying to take in exactly what had just happened. The Underground was not a new thing to him, not by a long shot. However, he hadn't heard any mention of them in over a year. Next to him, Kaiyo was staring down at the letter, wearing a mischievous smile. "H…How?" Jeremie began with a frown.

The Underground had been a group of thieves basically. However, unlike most thieves they didn't steal objects. They stole information. The group had been listening in on private conversations, even those of the teachers. Then they would go out and sell that information to however they thought would be willing to pay for it. It had gotten out of hand, the abuse of information wrought havoc across Kadic Academy.

When the parents of the children started calling and complaining, Jeremie and Jim had taken it upon themselves to bring down this crime ring, and until now, had thought they were successful. They'd always known that there was one person they hadn't caught, the leader of the whole thing. Yet whoever that was had never acted out, had never rebelled or struck back. There had been plenty of information over the last couple of years that could have gotten Jim, Jeremie and Delmas all fired. Yet, nothing had ever happened with it.

Jeremie's eyes looked up from the paper and turned to look at Kaiyo. He couldn't help but notice that she was enjoying his reaction to all of this, almost as if she had known all along. The excitement on her face disappeared the moment that Jeremie looked at her. "Kaiyo, Angel…" he said with a frown. "Would you mind explaining to me exactly what this is all about?"

"Um… I don't know," Kaiyo replied nervously and with a look of worry. "It's… well… The Underground."

"Yes, I noticed," Jeremie said, coldly. "So… why in the world did one of them just hand me this? That group is supposed to have been destroyed. We expelled all but the leader last spring. What do you know that you aren't telling me?" His voice sounded more hurt than angry when he asked the last question.

"Um…" Kaiyo glanced around awkwardly. "Not much really. I would like to point out that you weren't charged anything for that piece of information." Jeremie's eyes instantly widened as he stared down at the piece of paper blankly. Kaiyo did have a point. If this person had really been a member the Underground, he should have had to pay something for it.

Jeremie wanted to pressure Kaiyo some more, but he held himself back. There were more important things to do at the moment, the first of which being to contact Ulrich Stern. Unfortunately, that would only happen if the paper was accurate. So, looking at it cautiously, Jeremie dialed the number. It was immediately answered.

A monotonous tone instantly began to speak. The voice, sounded strangely familiar to Jeremie, but it certainly wasn't Ulrich's. "You have reached the office of Dr. Strange. I am currently working on one of my world famous creations. Please state your name, reason for calling, and whether you are friend, foe, or rival. You may speak after the beep..."

"Wrong number," Jeremie said with a roll of his eyes as he began to hang up the phone.

"Are you sure about that, sir?" The monotonous voice said, and Jeremie paused, bewildered. "I can assure you," the voice continued, with emotion this time. However was on the other end was speaking very seriously, "that this number is never the wrong one. Did you, or did you not, dial 1-365-Awesome?"

"No I…" Jeremie looked down at the paper in his hand and thought for a second. "Actually, yes I did. But… um… I wasn't trying to call you. I was trying to call a man named Ulrich Stern." There was silence on the other end as if Dr. Strange had just heard the weird thing ever.

"Who are you?" Dr. Strange finally said, after a long moment of silence. "Who in the world still calls him by that name?"

"Uh…" Jeremie stammered in utter confusion. "I take it you know Ulrich Stern then?"

"Know him, why of course I know him! We go way back, me and him. But even I don't call him Ulrich anymore. Instead, he is called The Ninja Warrior. It is incredibly disrespectful to call him anything else. If he heard you doing it, he would be want to kill you. Besides… who are you?" Dr. Strange stressed the question again. "How could you even know his name?"

"Um… I… knew Ulrich… I mean The Ninja Warrior when he was a kid," Jeremie said, awkwardly. "We actually went to school together. My name is Jeremie Belpois. May I ask who this is?"

"Jeremie?!" Dr. Strange cried in surprise. "We all thought you were dead! After you disappeared that night we waited for something to happen. You never showed up again and we just… well… but you're alive… and on the other side of this phone! It's great to hear from you."

Jeremie, stunned, didn't really know how to reply. "Um… It is? I thought you guys hated me? I mean, after the last time we spoke…" He winced as he remembered the moment that was always buried just out of his thoughts.

"Yeah… that time…" Dr. Strange said, swallowing a little awkwardly. "After you left, we fell apart. Everybody went their separate ways, and… well… things didn't go so well for any of us. So, when I ended up with The Ninja Warrior again… well… we mostly talked about the good old days fighting XANA, and often wondered what had happened to you."

Jeremie swallowed hard. "Odd… I mean, Dr. Strange, I have a confession to make. I'm not calling you for a social talk. I needed to speak to you too, but… well… He's back. I don't know why, or how, but he's back."

"You don't mean…" Dr. Strange said, his voice distorting into a scowl. "You were doing it again, weren't you? You were messing with the supercomputer!"

"I… I was finishing it," Jeremie replied, knowing how lame the excuse sounded. "Look. I need you to get over here from wherever you are. XANA needs to be stopped before he does anything more."

"Then I wasn't imagining it…" Dr. Strange said with a frown. "The guy who killed Muisaya Hiyim …"

"Yeah," Jeremie said with a nod of his head. "He was killed by one of XANA's spectors."

"You've really messed things up this time, haven't you Jeremie?" Dr. Strange said with a frown. "I'll be over as soon as I can, but I want you to know that I am holding you responsible for this. Though…" and then the voice changed into the more playful and excited tone that he'd had as a child. "…it will give me a chance to practice my new moves."

"Tell Ulrich to come as well," Jeremie said. "I'm going to want to run the Anti-Virus program again, and I'm going to need you guys on Lyoko to make sure that XANA doesn't stop it. You know, just one quick mission. Then all of you can go back to your normal lives."

"Good," Dr. Strange said in response. "I wouldn't mind visiting Lyoko again. The Ninja Warrior isn't here right now though. We'll head over to Kadic as soon he returns from Japan." Jeremie blinked at the news. As if anticipating his question, Odd quickly added, "He does a lot of traveling these days. He is world famous, you know, but he will be back soon. We'll be there in three days."

"Great," Jeremie said with a smile. "You don't know what happened to Yumi, do you?" There was a click on the other side of the phone as Dr. Strange hung up abruptly. "Hello?" Jeremie said into his side of the phone. "Dr. Strange…Odd… Hello?" He closed his cellphone and slid it back into his pocket. Then he turned to Kaiyo, and the two of them simply looked at each other, unsure of what had just happened.

Alright so… Jeremie manages to reach Odd and Ulrich, who are still rooming together several years after Kadic. However, what happened to Yumi? What made Odd hang up so abruptly? Who is this member of the Underground, and why didn't she charge Jeremie? Why in the world does Odd go by the name of Dr. Strange, and what are his "creations?"

To all of my old fans, I'm back. To any new fans that I may be meeting for the first time, enjoy! I am hoping to get five reviews quickly so that I can write the next chapter. I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Until next time,

Xanatos Stones


	24. Epi 4, Chpt 4: Ulrich's Drive

For those fans of mine who used to follow my story up until I stopped for over an entire year, I am letting you guys know that I am going to be updating much more frequently. I hope you like this next chapter, as I think it is one of the best that I have written in a long time. I hope you enjoy it.

**Chapter 4: Ulrich's Drive**

Recovering quickly from the shock of being hung up on, Jeremie glared at the phone. Odd Della Robbia didn't seem to have changed much. Granted he appeared to be able to be more serious at times, but he was still as reckless and ridiculous as ever. Yet, he needed the guy so it wouldn't pay to be impolite to him. And what was with Ulrich taking the name Ninja Warrior? Jeremie nodded his head towards Kaiyo and motioned for her to go. "I have some research I've got to do," Jeremie said quickly. "I'll meet you for supper, alright?"

"Um…" Kaiyo opened her mouth as if to say something, then closed it again blushing. "Alright Jeremie Darling," she said with a smile. "I have something I want to talk to you about then. Don't be late, alright?" Jeremie nodded his head to her and then turned back to his computer. Opening the internet, he typed in the words "The Ninja Warrior", and instantly found countless different articles. Along with them was a link live to live video feed of the Ninja Warrior's latest competition. Clicking on it, Jeremie's mouth dropped open.

Ulrich frowned in concentration, staring at the giant obstacle course that stretched out in front of him. Giant waves of rushing water poured down onto the net that was directly in front of him, before falling down into the giant pool below. Beyond the net, was a small elastic floor that was barely wide enough to balance on, not even large enough to fully hold his feet. It was also moving, and at the same time necessary to drop onto it from the net, due to the fact that the part of the net furthest from Ulrich was several feet above the platform.

Once the platform was landed upon, the platform moved underneath of several very slim yet solid other platforms that were too slippery to stand on. He would have to duck, roll, jump and other such things to avoid hitting these, while at the same time landing and keeping his balance on the tiny elastic platform.

After the platform there was a number of small platforms that had to be leapt from one after another, platforms that sunk upon impact so that the person had to leap the same second that they landed. There were 20 of them, each one growing smaller and wider apart as the neared the ending. The last one wouldn't even be possible to make unless Ulrich had picked up enough speed by jumping and bouncing off of the other ones.

The next part of the course was a ladder with rings that would periodically collapse, making it so that he would have to be able to catch ahold of the other rings while falling. At the top of this ladder was a small container that held a victory ribbon. Once it was picked up, the platform collapsed and it was required to catch ahold of the rapidly moving and tilting victory platform. From there, they needed to scramble up its slippery slope fast enough to reach the solid ground on the other side.

Once this was accomplished, the person's time would be announced. Whoever had the faster time, in the end, won. Frankly, however, the time had never mattered. Nobody except Ulrich Stern could pull off this kind of course. Touch the water, and the competitor was disqualified. Never once had it been recorded that the Ninja Warrior had fallen in. The camera barely had time to survey the course before the Ulrich began.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Ulrich stared into the course with grimace. Everywhere he went, people tried to create an obstacle course that he couldn't do. As far as he could tell, none of them could even imagine his true potential. Nothing he had done so far had come even close, and this course would be incredibly simple. However, as he looked into the crowd, at the seat that he always reserved he winced. Nobody was there of course, and that was purposefully. It was to remind him that nobody ever would be again. His anger at that fact was what drove him on.

Gripping onto the bottom of the net, he began to climb. _Yumi._ The woman's bright smile and playful eyes filled his head as he gripped the rope. A blast of water crashed down upon him, the force shoving him towards the lake below. Yet, instead of even pausing to take the hit, Ulrich forced himself to climb up through it.

_"They're dead, Ulrich. All of them," Yumi said, her eyes brimming with tears. "Some kind of weird sickness. I don't know how to handle this. I can't just sit here. I need to go and find some answers. I need to take a break."_

Growling through the water, Ulrich remembered his answer. _"A break, Yumi? But… from what exactly? You want to leave me at a time like this, a time when I should be taking care of you? Why would you want to do that?"_ _He'd given her such a puzzled look. He hadn't wanted her to go. He could have made things better for her._ The water falling on him let up, and Ulrich found himself at the top of the net.

Climbing over to the area above the moving platform, his mind was on what had happened next. _"Where could you even be going?" Ulrich asked blankly. "I mean besides Kadic Academy and here, what other places do you know?"_

_ "I'm going back to Japan," Yumi replied, and Ulrich's eyes widened in shock. "Not permanently," she quickly added, "just long enough to remember what it had been like there. I want to find my motivation again, and then I will return." _Ulrich dropped to the platform with a solid thump. He didn't know why he'd let her go. It had been such a stupid decision on his part, especially knowing how dangerous it was in Japan at the time. Muisaya Hiyim had begun his violent take over, after all.

His eyes locked onto upcoming slippery platforms, and he readied himself to leap. _"You can't possibly go there!" Ulrich exclaimed in horror. "That place is way too dangerous. Something could…"_

_ "Ulrich," Yumi replied consolingly. "I'm not your average girl, and you know it. Don't forget that I fought side-by-side with you back when we were at Kadic! I can handle myself." She'd kissed him on the cheek and turned to go. "I'll be back in two weeks, count on it." Then she'd headed out the door. _Ulrich winced at the memory. Fool that he had been, he hadn't gone after her.

As for the platforms around him, Ulrich's body moved almost as if everything else were in slow motion. He did a backflip over the first of the platforms, landing on his hands in order to launch himself into a flying roll and dodging between the second two, which were coming at him at the same speed. His roll was stopped by a downward slanted slippery slope that pushed him down below the others. Ulrich grasped the slope he was supposed to be standing on his hands, holding his entire body up with just the one hand that could fit on it. Acting quickly, he flipped himself back onto the platform and launched himself off of it, landing on the quickly sinking platforms.

_For the next thirteen days, Ulrich had trained like never before. He'd also scheduled his first appearance on a show called Ninja Warrior. He was ready to show everybody just how incredibly skilled he was. The excitement and training kept him from missing Yumi too much, but not from wanting to tell her the news as soon as he could. Then the telephone call had come. Yumi had booked passage on a plane back to Paris and had wanted to let Ulrich know that she was coming home. That had been when the attack began._

Ulrich growled ferociously, picking up speed as he bounced from platform to platform, already moving faster than he should have been able to, due to the previous launch. Around him, people were watching with their mouths hanging open. He was moving like a blur, making the obstacles seem like nothing more than child's play, and he was getting better as he went along!

_The scream had split the air, and Ulrich's face had gone white. "Yumi, what's going on over there?" He had asked frantically. On the other end of the phone, he could hear Yumi's breath speeding up, terrified._

_ "They're here…" She replied quietly. "The rebellion! I don't know why, but…" Her scream split the air as the sound of the room caving in reverberated across the phone. Then it had died. The silence was deafening, and Ulrich had just stared at the phone, pale as death._

The ladder was like child's play. Ulrich moved up it like it was laid flat. He skipped every other wrung, still using the speed that he had picked up earlier. If any of the areas broke, he'd grasp one he fell past and use the leverage of the fall to launch himself even further up the ladder. His reflexes were so fast that it left people breathless. Witnessing The Ninja Warrior's skill was something that could never be described at its most incredible. Reaching the top, Ulrich grabbed the ribbon and began to fall.

_That evening the news had come on. The airport that Yumi had been in was burnt to the ground. Nobody had made it out, not even the small band of the resistance that Muisaya Hiyim had sent inside. The coward himself had never bothered to lift a finger to help. Thousands of people had died during that fire, and several prominent officials along with them. When the list of those dead was portrayed, Yumi's name had been among them._

Ulrich landed on the platform and raced up the side of it, while it was still horizontal, almost as if he were running up a wall. Reaching the top, he launched himself off of it and landed on the ground in front of the judges. _He'd taken the anger that had filled him at that point and begun to study all the more. The empty seat was there to remind him that Yumi was gone, and that her death would always mean something to him. At the same time, he knew that she would want him to continue with his life, thus why he placed his competitions above all else. Any time he didn't spend training or at the competitions, he spent researching a way to bring down Muisaya Hiyim, the bloody mass-murderer who had stolen his fiancé from him._

Ulrich blinked and faced the crowd that was cheering his name. Shaking his head with a frown, he muttered, "I didn't do any of this for you." Without even bothering to check his time or the skill of his competitor, he strode down the other side of the passageway and out the door towards the airport, where he would meet Hoku and head back home. He didn't want to spend any more time in this cursed country than he had to.

Alright. So for you people who thought that Muisaya Hiyim was Yumi, what do you say to the news that Yumi was killed by Muisaya Hiyim's men? Also, what reasons do you think there were for the unexpected differences in the way that Muisaya Hiyim did that attack? Also, what do you think of Ulrich Stern's current activities?

Please leave reviews to answer any of these questions and share your thoughts. Also, if you liked it, please leave me a short review to tell me so. I will write the next chapter as soon as I get ten responses (reviews, author favorites, story favorites, alerts, etc.) Thank you, and I hope you enjoyed it.


	25. Epi 4, Chpt 5: Teen Pop Culture

I wanted to start by saying thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter that I had written. Hearing what people think and being informed of the fact that people are actually enjoying it, gives me the inspiration I need to have in order to write it. So, for all of my die-hard fans, here is the long awaited fifth chapter, and it is one of the longest chapters I have written for this story as well. (Yes, I measured it XD) Well, hope you enjoy. Here it is:

**Chapter 5: Teen Pop Culture**

Willow, her eyes cold and calculating, surveyed the cafeteria with a look of disgust. She hid it well, changing it instantly whenever anybody glanced her way. She'd been trained well, learned how to hide the signs, and knew how to notice everything. Not a single detail, no matter how small, was able to escape her notice. At least, that was her claim. It was one of the few things she believed to be true about herself. More than anything, however, this confidence was annoying her.

She was certain, based on the reactions that she'd managed to get, that something was indeed going on at Kadic Academy. Whether or not it had anything to do with why she was here, however, was frustratingly unclear. Besides Jim's reaction that morning, she hadn't found even the slightest hint that Father's suspicions were accurate. True, Jeremie Belpois was hardly the normal science teacher, but his lack of reaction when he saw her medallion still made her comfortable. He could simply have been good at hiding the shock, but she had no way to discover whether or not that was truly the case.

Willow's attention was drawn back to her current company, as she turned to look at her roommate, who was quietly humming one of Violet Griffin's many hits. _Idiot!_ Willow thought with a role of her eyes. _There is no way you are going to be able to keep yourself hidden for long if you keep this up!_ Vio was, to Willow, simply a reminder of why she hated humanity. The world was a heap of garbage, and everybody spent their lives attempting to scramble up it.

Different people were interested in different aspects of it, but at the end of the day, everybody was truly in it for himself and himself alone. Vio had left the glamour path through the junk and attempted to climb up a different path. In the end Vio would simply find that all of the paths led to the same useless trash, of this Willow was quite certain. The fact that Vio was trying to find a better way to climb the trash, hoping to find something else at the top, was pathetic. It was absolutely pathetic.

Her critique of her roommate ceased instantly as the door to the cafeteria quietly opened. Hearing the movement in the back of her mind, Willow quickly pushed it to the front, moving her critique into its place. As a result, she turned instinctively to the door to see who had just entered. Jeremie Belpois. He walked like somebody lost in thought and not truly aware of what he was doing. _Note to Self: Jeremie Belpois is currently in auto-pilot_. Then he sat down next to Kaiyo, who was sitting several tables away from Willow, and began talking to her.

Willow pushed all of her other observations slightly further back into her mind, so that she was still aware of everything just on a more subconscious level. She'd dig it out later and look over that stuff, while also being prepared in case something really unusual happened. Most of her energy, however, was directed towards listening to what Jeremie Belpois had to say.

When Jeremie walked into the kitchen, he truly hadn't been aware of what he was doing. His mind was being haunted by a vow he had made when he had been nothing more than a child. He'd told Jim that someday he would change the world, that he would make himself known as the second Einstein. He'd said that it certainly possible, considering the things he'd been able to do with Lyoko. With that kind of intelligence, the world could truly have been turned around. He'd been able to accept the change in his life goals to some extent, but the phone conversation he'd just had shook his convictions terribly.

Ulrich Stern had become some kind of crazy superhero, taking the skills he'd discovered on Lyoko and determining the best way to bring them to life in the real world. Odd had become some sort of doctor, and Jeremie was certain that there was no way it could be a doctorate's in medicine. Whatever it was in, if Odd was able to get that kind of degree in such a short period of time, he would have had to put heart and soul into it. It truly was an incredible accomplishment.

Then there was him, Jeremie Belpois, the one who everybody had declared destined for greatness. He was a science teacher lost in his glory days, wasting his life away remembering the way that life had once been. Sure, he attempted to start a new life, get a new girlfriend, and such things. However, he knew that it would never be enough, not really. He felt as if he'd outlived his usefulness, and destroyed his life with one selfish act he would never be able to change.

There was a moment of silence as; Kaiyo stared at Jeremie with unmistakable concern etched across her face, Willow made a mental note of the strange going-ons, and Jeremie simply sat silent. It stayed for several seconds. Then, out of nowhere, Jeremie declared, "I need to find Aelita." For a moment, both Willow and Kaiyo were caught off-guard. Willow instantly settled herself and cursed herself for the slip-up. Jeremie continued, "Aelita Stones, to be exact. She was a childhood friend of mine, and my first…" He trailed off as he looked at Kaiyo. "…friend."

Even saying the words felt like a declaration of doom. It had been a long time since he'd thought of her. Sure, he'd listed her amongst the friends he needed to find and while thinking about the past, but this was the first time his mind had targeted her specifically. The searing pain he'd experienced at the last words Aelita had said to him instantly returned. The empty hole that she'd left, and Kaiyo had worked quite hard to repair, ripped open again. Willow noticed this. Kaiyo did not, due to being quite distracted by what Jeremie had just said.

"Aelita…Stones?" Kaiyo repeated the words, rolling them over on her tongue. She wore a rather puzzled expression. "Are you talking about Aelita of the Stones?" Jeremie's facial reaction plainly said, 'huh?', as if he had no idea what in the world Kaiyo was talking about. Kaiyo chuckled to herself and said, "I guess that would be kinda crazy coincidence, huh?

Willow found herself absolutely puzzled. Who in the world _was_ Jeremie Belpois? How in the world could he _possibly_ not know who Aelita of the Stones was? _Note to Self: Jeremie Belpois is very, very abnormal and uninformed about present day culture._

Jeremie Belpois continued by asking a question that few people in the world would ever have asked. "Who exactly is Aelita of the Stones?" Kaiyo's reaction was to roll her eyes. Jeremie couldn't help but frown at this. "Why in the world are you acting like this is something I should know?" he asked impatiently.

"Well, Aelita Schaeffer is…" Kaiyo began, but froze almost instantly. Jeremie's face had gone turned pale, and he was starting to sweat.

_How in the world did Kaiyo know about Aelita?_ That was the first thought that entered Jeremie's head. However, it was only because he didn't want to think about the question that haunted him even more. _Why in the world wasn't Aelita going by the name that they had given her anymore?_ The answer, however, seemed pretty clear to Jeremie. What it meant was that contacting Aelita was going to be much harder than he had originally imagined. There was no doubt that she had changed her name back to what it had originally been, in an attempt to forget about what had happened to her at Kadic Academy.

_Dr. Strange… The Ninja Warrior… Aelita Schaeffer… _Jeremie's eyes widened as an even more unsettling thought occurred to him. Everybody he had once known had changed their names, hiding the true ones. All of them, every single one, even good-natured Odd Della Robbia, was trying to forget. The whole reason he was now contacting them was to make sure they remembered. As such, once again, he was going to be the enemy.

"That's her," Jeremie said quietly. "When she lived with us, she went by the name Aelita Stones, but she'd always said that her original name had been Aelita Schaeffer." His eyes hardened and he turned to look Kaiyo in the eyes. "You were going to tell me what exactly the stones were, weren't you?"

Kaiyo's mouth opened and closed for a moment as no words came out. "So… Aelita Schaeffer's secret years were spent at Kadic Academy? And… you knew her… Wow." Jeremie's facial expression didn't change. "Oh… right," Kaiyo said with a slight grin. "The Stones are Aelita's vocal band. They came about after she left the Subdigitals and moved to Canada."

Jeremie's eyes widened as he remembered some of the last days of fighting XANA. The band had been impressed with Aelita's work and even allowed her to be on stage with them. He hadn't heard anything about it since, and had most definitely never been told that Aelita joined. He frowned quietly, deciding to ask Jim about it when next he got the chance. Then again, he frowned. He'd been trying so hard to forget her that Jim had probably been going out of his way _not_ to let him know.

"Jer?" Kaiyo asked, recalling Jeremie back to the present. She was looking at him with raised eyes, rather bewildered. "You zoned out. I was trying to tell you that it is my favorite band, and that it is perhaps the most successful teen pop band currently in existence."

"She's in Canada?" Jeremie asked, with an odd expression on his face. The odd twist where they'd said she was originally from Canada, only to find out she actually had been still bothered Jeremie's logical mind. The fact that she had actually _gone_ there seemed incredibly weird to him.

"Actually," Kaiyo said with a grin. "She isn't. For the first time since their creation, The Stones are going to be performing in Paris, France, and I have two tickets." She reached into her pocket and pulled them out. Yet another oddity hit Jeremie as he looked at the picture of Aelita that was printed on the tickets in front of him. One was that she had long silver hair, and the other was that she looked very Canadian.

Willow was watching silently all that was going on, taking down note after note in her head. The fact that Jeremie knew Aelita was nowhere near as strange as the fact that she had come from Kadic Academy. A small grin crossed her face as she sat there. This was actually good news. For the first time, a clue just might have been discovered. There could be many Aelita Schaeffers, of that much Father had also been certain. However, the fact that this Aelita Schaeffer had both knew Jeremie Belpois, and come from Kadic Academy, suddenly made her much more interesting.

Jeremie stared at the tickets in Kaiyo's hands quietly for a moment, as if attempting to make up his mind. Then he quickly pulled out his laptop, flipped it open, and started to type rapidly. Kaiyo looked bewildered, as Willow continued to her hardly noticeable smirk. "What are you doing?" Kaiyo asked, trying to peer around Jeremie to see the screen. In response, Jeremie said nothing.

Without a single word, Jeremie stood to his feet, swung his backpack onto his shoulders, and rushed out of the room, still typing onto his laptop. Kaiyo and Willow simply stared for a moment, before Kaiyo noticed Willow watching. A puzzled look crossed her face, and Willow quickly turned away, cursing herself for her stupidity and clumsiness.

Willow didn't look up from her food until Kaiyo had exited the cafeteria. Then Willow did her normal surveying of the room, once again becoming knowledgeable of everything going on around her, including the fact that at some point during all of spying her roommate had left the room. Glancing one last time at the door that Kaiyo had exited through, Willow made one last mental note. _Note to Self: Be more careful! If Kaiyo sees you spying again, it could end badly._

The introduction of the Lyoko Warriors is now nearing completion. The mystery of Willow is growing deeper and deeper. Who is this girl, and what exactly is she after? More importantly for the moment, where is Jeremie going, and what is he doing? Please read, review, and let me know your thoughts and questions. I seriously hoped you enjoyed it.

Until next time, Xanatos Stones out.


	26. Epi 4, Chpt 6: Aelita of the Stones

Once again, I want to express my thanks to those who give me the inspiration to keep on writing. Your reviews and responses help me to remember that there are people out there actually enjoying this, and nothing encourages me to write more than that. So, for those of you who have been faithfully waiting for this character, I present to you the next chapter…

**Chapter 6: Aelita of the Stones**

The passenger jet was impressive. There were three seats per row, each extending out five lines. These were made of red velvet and about the most comfortable seats one could purchase. Each had a miniature TV and portable video game system attached to the seat in front of it. There were also expensive $100 headphones that looked as comfortable as anyone could possibly imagine. A small number of men and women sat in these seats, only five in all. The rest of the area was empty and unused. Behind all of this was a black silk curtain. If somebody were to push it open, they would have been stunned by what was behind it.

There was an arcade, with several of the most famous games that had ever been invented, such as Pac-Man, Tetris, and Asteroids. There was also a clear table that appeared to have been made out of heavily hammered gold. The chairs around were such that they wouldn't have looked out of place in a mansion. A plasma screen TV, about 40 foot wide and 20 foot tall took up one entire wall of the room. Leaning back, eyes closed, on the couch that had been positioned on the far other end of the room, as far from the TV as possible, was a beautiful Canadian girl.

She had a soft, kind, yet exhausted face. Her eyes, a dark green, looked worn out, tired and tense. Her long silver hair was wiry and scattered, as if she hadn't bothered to brush it since getting out of bed. Her hands were curled up behind her head, and she looked to be asleep. In reality, she was too worried and apprehensive to do anything of the sort. For the first time since leaving Paris five years before, she was truly disconcerted. It had been purposeful, avoiding that city, despite the fame she could easily have garnered there. She pushed the memories out of her head, as she had been doing for years now. There was nothing left to gain from them.

The only other person in the room was a man, likely in his early thirties, was busy playing Frogger. His hair was white, solid white, bleached so frequently during his younger years that it looked naturally so. He wore a red dress shirt with the words "THE STONES" written on it in large silver letters that perfectly matched the celebrity's hair. He wore long black pants into which he had tucked the dress shirt. He wasn't entirely comfortable with this set-up, as he used to enjoy orange cargo pants instead. However, as manager for the famous Aelita Schaeffer, certain sacrifices had to be made.

Chris Morales, as his name happened to be, was the only one on the plane who knew anything at all about the past that Aelita had been running from. This was due, mainly, to his actions in getting her a part in his previous band, The Subdigitals. If it hadn't been for him, Aelita often found herself wondering where she might have ended up today. He'd been the epitome of kindness to the young woman, even when she had accidentally and foolishly ruined his dreams. As such, he had become both her best friend and her manager.

The plane's current direction, Paris, was also his idea. As such, this was the first time in their years of friendship that she was seriously cross with him. He had given two reasons for going, neither of which being disputable from Aelita's point of view. Firstly, it was time to stop running, face her past and finally throw it off once and for all. The only way to truly be free of her old life, and not have to spend the rest of her new one running, and filled with regret, was to head to Paris. If she could face the city, then she would be freeing herself of that terror.

The second reason was even more indisputable. Chris was unwilling to leave Aelita by herself, due to reliance that she always placed upon him. As such, he hadn't seen his uncle in years. When that had been brought up, Aelita had admitted that she would rather go with him then be without him for the weeks he'd want to spend in Paris. It was Chris's belief that it truly would be healthy for Aelita to perform a concert while in Paris, and she had reluctantly agreed. So, as they made their way to Paris, Aelita found herself unable to relax and Chris acted as if he didn't have a worry in the world.

That is, until Aelita's cellphone rang and sealed the world's fate. The moment this happened, a chill of fear ran down Chris's spine, and he spun around. Aelita, who had stood to her feet, was staring at the phone in stunned silence, sweat pouring down her face. Only one person in the world had ever been given Aelita's number, and he was standing next to the Frogger game looking pale. His carefree smile was gone. The only reason Chris had it was so that he could contact Aelita from anywhere, something she only wanted him to be able to do.

"Should I…?" Aelita began, not willing to take her eyes off the phone for a moment. It was a rather creepy thing to have happen, but could it really be a stalker? What kind of dangerous stalker called their victims to alert them that they are stalking? Besides, even if it was, surely answering a phone was totally harmless, right? For a moment, an old memory pushed itself to her head… an evil being who could control all things electric. She quickly shoved the idea out of her head however, scolding herself for being ridiculous.

Chris reluctantly nodded his head. _Maybe, _he told himself unconvincingly, _it's just the phone company._ It was unlikely however, since they tended to text or email, and had never once called in the two years that Aelita had the phone.

"H… H… H…Hello?" Aelita asked, swallowing hard as she did so. "Who is this?"

Chris couldn't hear the answer, but could most certainly see the reaction. Her face paled and then she fell over, hitting her head on the ground forcefully. Dashing over to Aelita, abandoning his game, Chris checked to make sure that she hadn't been harmed. After confirming she was ok, he violently grabbed the phone and snapped, "Who are you!?"

There was a silence on the other end of the phone, the person obviously taken aback by the sudden verbal attack. "Uh… who are you?" the voice finally stammered out. "I was trying to speak to Aelita Stones... I mean, Aelita of the Stones." Chris stared at Aelita's collapsed body and then back at the phone. His frown grew deeper.

There was absolutely no doubt that this had to be one of the people that Aelita had been hiding from for years. Chris was the only person around who knew that was her original name, besides the people who had known her at Kadic Academy. He was tempted, for a moment, to tell the pilots to alter course. However, with the concert already booked and the gas money that had already been invested, even Aelita Scaeffer could afford to back out now.

"You, sir, have no business calling this number," Chris said coldly into the phone. "You couldn't have possibly gotten your hands on it legally. I will know your name, by your will or not! Now tell me who you are!" He nearly screamed the last words into the phone. Aelita's accident, and then mysterious man that had broken the law by contacting her, made Chris wish to reach through the phone and strangle the person.

There was silence for a moment on the other side of the phone, before the person reluctantly responded. "My name is Jeremie Belpois." Chris's eyes widened as he listened more intently to the rest of the explanation. "I went to school with Aelita, and need to discuss some things with her. It's important."

Jermeie Belpois. There was nobody at Kadic that Aelita wanted to avoid more. This was very well known to Chris. He was the epitome of everything that Aelita had been running from. Now here he was, contacting her out of the blue, after over five years of silence. This could very likely only mean one thing. It truly was important. Either that… or he was just a stalker who had heard she was coming to Paris.

After collecting his thoughts for a second, Chris spoke. "Important! What I find important is that you called a number only I know. This can only mean that you are a hacker, and that you are doing illegal things with this ability. Namely, you are stalking. If you try to contact Aelita again, if she complains that you are bothering her, the police will find out about this!" Then he hung up the phone and looked down once again at Aelita Schaeffer. Chris sighed quietly as he glanced out of the windows at the city of Paris stretching out in front of them. Coming here had been a very bad idea.


End file.
